'I was really getting at him': Crockett grilled Epstein prosecutor over 'sweetheart deal'

Former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta recently participated in a closed-door deposition with members of the House Oversight Committee. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who sits on the committee, recently described her exchange with him over his handling of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's first criminal investigation.

During a Friday interview with CNN host Jake Tapper, Crockett said she mainly wanted to get to the bottom of why Acosta decided on his plea agreement with Epstein, which Crockett called a "sweetheart deal." That non-prosecution agreement allowed Epstein to serve just 13 months in prison — avoiding a possible life sentence for the sex trafficking of minors — while also being able to leave prison regularly on a work release program.

Crockett said that Acosta — who was also briefly secretary of labor in President Donald Trump's first administration — insisted that he viewed the case against Epstein as too weak to win over a jury, and wanted to instead settle on at least some prison time and requiring Epstein to register as a sex offender. He also told Crockett that he had concerns about witnesses' willingness to testify. Crockett responded that the "one witness rule" makes it possible for a jury to convict a defendant based on the testimony of just one witness, and recounted hammering Acosta on agreeing to the plea deal despite a 53-count charging memo and reams of evidence.

"So I was really getting at him and he said, 'well, 2006 was a different time' ... I said, 'let me tell you something. I've been practicing law since 2006, so I know what was happening in 2006.' So I was really ready to tear in and really get down to some other things, because I've dealt with child sex cases and based on the little information that I know about what he had back then, in my opinion he had more than enough evidence, but he was arguing that he didn't."

According to the Texas Democrat, Acosta also cited several child psychology experts who said that children can sometimes be unreliable witnesses, as their minds can block out traumatic memories as a protection mechanism. She responded that as an attorney, she had prosecuted sex offenders and was familiar with that issue, and then openly questioned Acosta's competency as a prosecutor given his unwillingness to take the case to trial.

Acosta also reportedly insisted the plea agreement wasn't a "sweetheart deal," given the guaranteed prison time, restitution payments to victims and him being required to register as a sex offender. Crockett noted that the former U.S. attorney told her that "even today, looking back ... this deal was a good deal." Tapper remarked that Acosta's characterization of the deal was "preposterous."

"I'm just telling you what the man said," Crockett said.

- YouTube www.youtube.com