July 12, 2019

Alex Acosta Is Gone

Jeff Malet/Newscom via ZUMA

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Another Trump cabinet member bites the dust:

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigned Friday amid intense scrutiny of his role as a U.S. attorney a decade ago in a deal with Jeffrey Epstein that allowed the financier to plead guilty to lesser offenses in a sex-crimes case….As he prepared to leave the White House, Trump called Acosta a “great labor secretary, not a good one” and a “tremendous talent.”

“This was him, not me,” Trump said of the resignation decision.

Needless to say, this had nothing—nothing—to do with the fact that Acosta cut a sweetheart deal for Epstein when he was first charged with soliciting dozens of underage girls for prostitution back in 2007. Acosta just didn’t want a hailstorm of negative publicity to do any harm to the crucial work being done by Trump to make America great again.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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