how we got alex acosta. we got alex acosta because the previous candidate for labor secretary had to withdraw when there were allegations of spousal abuse. alex acosta's issues relating to this clearly inadequate prosecution deal looked mild in comparison to that. more broadly, this is not an administration that let us say is well-known for its excellent vetting. even when they find things, they tend to think they won't cause trouble. they have plowed their way through a lot of things. it kind of goes to the question of attrition. attrition makes -- an apology has a good impact on a lot of people. a sincere apology has a good impact. but it has a bad impact on donald trump. he sees it as a sign of weakness. he famously doesn't apologize and that may be another piece of what was going on today. >> thank you for joining us this difficult subject. really appreciate it. >> when we come back, katie porter will join us to tell us how jpmorgan chase has finally, finally responded to her withering prosecution of jam

doesn't that alone warrant an apology from alex acosta? >> yeah, let's get all of the details out on that and find out from acosta, again he has to go back and review this with the department of justice and make it right in any way we can. my impression is a lot of the push right now is because he's a trump cabinet member and not because of the case. my focus would be let's focus on the -- on him as an attorney and u.s. attorney and find out what mistakes were made and how do we never do this again and make sure there aren't other individuals in other places that we had a prosecution not fully fulfilled. >> you make an important point. these were 14 and 15, 16-year-old girls who were abused in awful ways. -- would you like to see secretary acosta come before congress so you could directly ask him questions about the decisions he made a decade ago? >> so i would like to see the same way we could do with any other u.s. attorney, let the department of justice go through the process and do the investigation behind closed doors as they would fo

president said secretary alex acosta is doing a fantastic job. mr. trump also tried to distance himself from epstein in the oval office earlier today after once describing him alz a terrific guy. >> thank you very much -- >> reporter: tonight president trump appears to be standing by his embattled labor secretary alex acosta. at least for now. >> i can tell you that for two and a half years he's been just an excellent secretary of labor. he's done a fantastic job. >> reporter: the president appeared to diminish acosta's role as a federal prosecutor in 2008 plea agreement for jeffrey epstein who is facing new charges of running a child sex ring in florida that includes accusations of abusing teenage girls. >> i do hear there were a lot of people involved in that decision, not just him. i can only say this, from what i know and what i do know is that he's been a great -- really great secretary of labor. the rest of it will have to look at, we'll have to look at it very carefully. >> reporter: and the president downplayed his relationship with epstein.

president said secretary alex acosta is doing a fantastic job. mr. trump also tried to distance himself from epstein in the oval office earlier today after once describing him alz a terrific guy. >> thank you very much -- >> reporter: tonight president trump appears to be standing by his embattled labor secretary alex acosta. at least for now. >> i can tell you that for two and a half years he's been just an excellent secretary of labor. he's done a fantastic job. >> reporter: the president appeared to diminish acosta's role as a federal prosecutor in 2008 plea agreement for jeffrey epstein who is facing new charges of running a child sex ring in florida that includes accusations of abusing teenage girls. >> i do hear there were a lot of people involved in that decision, not just him. i can only say this, from what i know and what i do know is that he's been a great -- really

. >>> breaking news, embattled labor secretary alex acosta goes public to defend the still shocking plea deal he oversaw as a u.s. attorney a decade ago. which gave multi-millionaire jeffrey epstein a light sentence for sex crimes involving underage girls. acosta said his office stepped in when state prosecutors were ready to let epstein walk. epstein faces new federal charges for allegedly running a sex trafficking ring and abusing minors. sources say president trump told acosta to step forward amid a drum beat of calls for his resignation. and house democrats are scrambling to get ready for the testimony of robert mueller. they're trying to make the most of limited time but some are already cautioning against expecting too much from the hearings. the testimony is seen as a make or break moment for democrats pushing for an impeachment inquiry. i'll speak with senator james langford of the senate homeland security committee. and our correspondents and analysts will have full coverage of the day's top stories. but let's begin with the breaking news. our chief white house constituent jim a

and i want to thank alex acosta. he was a great, great secretary. . >> (inaudible). >> iran better be careful. they're treading on very dangerous territory. iran, if you're listening, you better be careful. >> (inaudible). >> i had a big one yesterday. >> you've been listening to donald trump on the white house south lawn. you saw him dripping with sweat at the end of more than 30 minutes of speaking to reporters on a series of topics. of course the major headline was the president standing beside his now former labor secretary, alex acosta, saying despite tremendous pressure, he thought acosta did a fantastic job explaining his role in the plea deal as it related to jeffrey epstein. the president, as you just heard, said acosta is resigning. you see our panel right now. hans nichols was on the south lawn. elliot williams is joining us right now. we have juan that summers, susan del persio. kimberly atkins as well. hans, i want to start with you if i can. you were on the lawn right now. it was sort of remarkable agai

the question now, does alex acosta keep his support? the tweet is evidence that he wants to fight to keep his support. republicans on capitol hill being asked should he stay. >> the department of justice has an ongoing investigation. i think we should find out what happened. >> this is an area of the law where the tie goes to the kids. if we think somebody is out there abusing children, no matter how hard the case may be, you want to bring it forward. >> is it time for him to resign? >> i think there's nothing new that we didn't know before he was confirmed by the senate. >> is there nothing new? >> i think there is quite a bit new. i mean just to your earlier -- the indictment, which is certainly new, and there are the victims who we knew existed but now we're hearing from them, seeing them. that is new, and to your point it is quite powerful. even in senator cornyn's comments of the three republicans you played there, he was probably the most forward-leaning in terms of supporting him. that is not iron clad support that you heard from

alex acosta, for whatever reason, did not see it that way. joining us now is julie brown, the "miami herald" investigative reporter whose in-depth reporting series on jeffrey epstein broke this story wide open last year and was credited for assisting prosecutors in the investigation. she was inside the court today. julie, thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> first of all, thanks for being this reporting. for these young victims it had to be a relief to see at least what could be the beginnings of justice. does it surprise you that the charges that are being brought against him today are so similar to the charges that he was given a sweet deal for before and how can that be explained to sort of the ordinary person out there? >> well, he had an operation going. he had people who worked for him. he had a whole setup of recruiters all over in new york, in florida, as far as we know this was probably going on in the u.s. virgin islands where he also had a home and in europe. and he had schedulers, such as like an organized crime orga

so that's a problem for labor secretary alex acosta. that is not getting better with his supposed defense. it seems like it's getting worse. also, the materials that acosta distributed today in his own defense additionally show that his office, acosta's office believed that epstein was breaking the terms of the non-prosecution agreement they had signed him up to. it is clear neither you or your client ever intended to abide by the terms of the agreement he signed. they put that in writing. acosta's office and prosecutors saying you were never intending to abide by that deal. well, okay. once you have got an alleged perpetrator who you decided to give a non-prosecution agreement to, once that perpetrator violates the terms of that agreement, then deal's off. agreement's broken. you are no longer bound by it. prosecute away, right? alex acosta's office never prosecuted jeffrey epstein. acosta released this information purportedly as part of the reason you are supposed to feel better about his actions. it doesn't make things any better for

i think alex acosta has to answer a lot of questions why it was resolved that way and what his reasons were and what he based his decision on. >> the u.s. attorney in the southern district of new york cited the excellent reporter by the "miami herald" over these past many, many months. a lot of speculation, preet, and i need your expertise on this,

once again on a friday, president trump's labor secretary alex acosta is out. he resigned just moments ago. he and the president talked to reporters on the south lawn of the white house for about 30 minutes. >> he has been a fantastic secretary of labor and alex called me this morning and he wanted to see me. and i actually said, well, we have the press right out here, so perhaps you just want to stay to the press. but i just want to let you know there are was him, not me. because i'm with him. he was -- he's a tremendous talent, he's a hispanic man, he went to harvard. >> i do not think it is right and fair for this administration's labor department to have epstein as the focus rather than the incredible economy that we have today. and so i called the president this morning, i told him that i thought the right thing was to step aside. cabinet positions are temporary trusts. it would be selfish for me to st stay in this position and continue talking about a case that's 12 years old rather than about the amazing economy we have right now. and so i submitted my r

the labor secretary, alex acosta, says he's stepping down. that less than 48 hours after secretary acosta defended himself to reporters. wednesday acosta insisted the nonprosecution deal he gave to accused pedophile jeffrey epstein a decade ago was on the level. today the labor secretary 234r5 flanking the president on the south lawn said he didn't want to be a decision and that he made this decision. the boss, though, didn't hesitate to accept it. >> he explained it. he made a deal people were happy with and 12 years later they're not happy with it. but i want to let you know, this was him, not me, because i'm with him. as far as i'm concerned, i watched alex yesterday. i thought alex did a great job. alex, i think you'll agree, i said you don't have to do this. he doesn't have to do this. >> let's get straight to kaitlin collins live at the white house. is this as presented a decision just by the labor secretary on his own? >> reporter: john, the president said alex acosta called him this morning and came over to the white house to offer hi

labor secretary alex acosta becoming the 14th cabinet level official to leave. not to mention the ump teengt departure. and down the west wing organization clarity. it's an extraordinary number of departures under very interesting circumstances in many cases. acosta was replaced no surprise by an acting secretary one of many acting top officials including at defense homeland security, the u.n., mall sbis administration and the f.a. chl a. more on the latest part forfeiture jim acosta joining us now. jim, the president public mri praise ds acosta on the south lawn. is that the case privately? >> no, anderson, i'm told by a senior administration official gnat president had been stewing over this over the last this hours. anderson there are officials inside the white house who were concerned that there would continue to be disclosures in the jeffrey epstein days case and this was going to continue to make alex acosta look bad not just in washington but potentially on the campaign trail. you saw a whole slough of democratic contenders weighing in on this earlier thi

this came up in alex acosta's hearing. this was a known fact. all of the details about this were not known the "miami herald" has done a remarkable job in reporting it alex acosta suggested in his press conference if not for him, things could have been worse he talked about the rolling of the dice of going to take jeffrey epstein to court versus agreeing to this deal you are obviously a specialist and having been a prosecutor, were you able to make sense of what alex acosta was trying to get across and whether it made sense? >> it's contrary to everything i know about his office. for years i worked with the office he led. the southern district of florida in miami that's an office that makes big drug cases and they make those cases by using witnesses who come with a lot of baggage witnesses who had been deal drugs and all sorts of misconduct the notion that somehow his office wouldn't be able to convict in a case where witnesses had come forward because they were pictures on social media holding a beer, that just doesn't make any sense. no prosec

this is we have rate a news conference with alex acosta. hi, everyone, i am dana perino and this is "the daily briefing briefing." acosta will speak to reporters 30 minutes from now. amid growing calls for is it resignation, we have fox team coverage. chris wallace will join us with analysis. but let's begin with david lee miller on the disturbing new allegations. david. >> dana, she was 14 years old when she first meant jeffrey epstein back in 2001. in chilling detail, legal papers filed today revealed how the alleged relationship began and ended after she said epstein forcibly raped her in his mansion. she said she was introduced to epstein by a twentysomething brunette woman who approached her side of a nearby performing arts high school where she attended class in new york city. she said the woman enticed her to meet epstein, suggesting he could help her with her career as an actress. she described him as a very caring, very wealthy, and very successful and someone good to know. at the first meeting she said she was served wine and give

after alex acosta came out, the reaction was essentially mixed. some people said it wasn't as bad as they thought it was going to be initially, but then the president started hearing criticism from people over how he conducted himself, how he hadn't offered an explicit apology to the victims in that plea deal situation. the president essentially started to change his tone on him and started asking people about other potential leaders at the labor department and pointing to certain parts of the plea deal that came under scrutiny, including the part where the victims were not told about it until it had been approved by a judge. that is what led to the president essentially losing his confidence. because the president had not publicly praised acosta's performance, a lot of people in the west wing essentially saw the writing on the wall last night and didn't think that he would be in the cabinet much longer. >> all right, kaitlin collins on the north lawn of the white house, thanks very much. >>> now, of course acosta is just the latest top official t

alex acosta defended himself. >> no regrets is a very hard question. you always look back and say what if. >> reporter: with new victims coming forward questioning whether acosta was too lenient in the case, the secretary was asked whether he would reach the same agreement today. time and again he pointed the finger at state prosecutors in florida saying they were going to allow epstein to avoid jail time. >> today's world treats victims very, very differently. today's world does not allow some of the victim shame that could have taken place at trial. i don't think we can say, you know, take a case that is this old and fully know how it would play out today. we did what we did because we wanted to see epstein to go jail. there is a value to a sure guilty plea. because letting him walk, letting what the state attorney was ready to do, go forward, would have been absolutely awful. >> the secretary made it clear he is not about to resign, talking up his relationship with president trump while working in a plug for the administration's record. >> my relati

this is we have rate a news conference with alex acosta. hi, everyone, i am dana perino and this is "the daily briefing briefing." acosta will speak to reporters 30 minutes from now. amid growing calls for is it resignation, we have fox team coverage. chris wallace will join us with analysis. but let's begin with david lee miller on the disturbing new allegations. david. >> dana, she was 14

alex acosta becoming the 14th official to leave. not to mention the departure up and down the organization chart. it's actually an extraordinary number of departures under very interesting circumstances in many cases. accoosta was replaced by an actg secretary, one of many acting top officials including homeland security, the u.n., small businessed ed administration an faa. so jim, the president publicly praised acosta today on the south lawn. is that the case privately? >> reporter: no, anderson. i'm told by a senior administration official, the president had been stewing over this for the last 24 hours and there are officials in the white house that were concerned there would continue to be disclosures in the jeffrey epstein case and this would continue to make alex acosta look bad here in washington and the campaign trail. you saw a slew of democratic contenders weighing in on this this afternoon and in the words of the senior administration official echoing watergate, he said what did alex acosta know and when did he know it. >>

the president sending alex acosta before cameras for an hour to defend himself. and acosta performed a audience everyone. he was unapologyist fiercely defending his role in securing the sweetheart deal in 2008 for epstein. >> a state grand jury brought that single, completely unacceptable charge. a state official allowed epstein to self-surrender. i wanted to help him. that is why we intervened. we did what we did because we wanted to see epstein go to jail. he needed to go to jail. there was value to getting a guilty plea. you can always look at a play after the fact and say should it have been the safe play or gone for the big score? >> well acosta certainly went for the safe play. despite authorities having evidence that epstein skauly abused dozens of teenage girls. the deal hammered out resulted in epstein serving 13 months in a county jail. allowed to leave every day six day as week for 12 hours a day. if epstein had been convicted he could have served life behind bars. that was a sweetheart deal. yes acosta today portrayed himself as a hero. >> there is a

what's your reaction to what alex acosta said? >> well, there was a lot to unpack here, and i sort of divided it into two areas. number one, he talked about the agreement itself, the evidence, the investigation, how it was difficult in these case. and these cases of course are difficult. but it is the job of these prosecutors, highly trained prosecutors to be able to talk to these victims and to understand where they're coming from. and, you know, i think because there were maybe -- and there were women that were reluctant to talk about and to go to trial, but you didn't need all 30 to go to trial. sex offenders and sex traffickers have gone to prison for a very long time on far less evidence. number one. and then the second part of this is the secrecy part of it. you know, this idea that he thought that somehow the case would be compromised if they knew that they might get some restitution to it. and that they use that. i did see that in the case file that that was the argument. but you didn't have to tell them about the restitut

attorney for southern florida alex acosta. currently donald trump's secretary of labor who was confronted by cnn last year only to dodge questions. >> i want to you ask about the jeffrey epstein -- >> reporter: in 2017 at his senate confirmation hearing, he defiended the lack of federal prosecution but did agree jeffrey epstein's come and go as he pleased jail time was a disgrace. >> he had to sleep at a county jail but he was basically allowed to move and go around the community and do whatever he wants and then that became a subject of significant criticism. >> and i'm on record condemning that and i think though was awful. >> reporter: the lack of federal prosecution more puzzling given acosta's record of aggressively going after others for sex trafficking. getting convictions and pushing for sentences of a decade or more behind bars. acosta's role in the plea deal brought to light last fall by a long investigation by the "miami-herald" which identified dozens of women who say they were molested or otherwise sexually abused

. >>> outfront labor secretary alex acosta is out. yet another member of trump's cabinet forced to quit amid scandal. and tonight another my ranking official may be next. and tropical storm barry gaining power. threatening epic floods. landfall hours away. and the highly anticipated hearing with robert mueller next week may have hit a snag. what's the hold up? let's go outfront. good evening i'm kate baldwin in for erin front. president trump can quit you, especially if you are in his cabinet. tonight yet another departure, perhaps with a little push from the president. this time labor secretary alex acosta announced his resignation days after coming under heavy scrutiny for miss role in a plea deal with accused child rapist jeffrey epstein when acosta was u.s. attorney in florida. >> he has been a fantastic secretary of labor. and alex called me this morning and he wanted to see me. i just want to let you know, this was him not me. because i'm with him. he was a -- he is a tremendous talent. >> so that's today. of course just two day

the man who headed the florida case, alex acosta, now secretary of labor in the trump administration. >> at the end of the day, mr. epstein went to jail. epstein was incarcerated, he registered as a sex offender. >> reporter: the "miami-herald" in an investigative report helping prompt today's charges found that acosta signed off on

well, alex acosta is a former u.s. attorney in the southern district of florida, had already beenput on notice by congress that key committees would want to bring him back. he's testified many times before. but to address these specific issues. what would that do? create more of the political firestorm, attaching the administration to that. and in addition if he were to stay on the job and the epstein trial. again, remember, this is about jeffrey epstein, were to play out during the campaign year, that too would be a major distraction. so for his own reasons to leave with his head held high that he would not make it something the president would need to do. we've seen the president weigh these sort of issues before sometimes dismissing people very publicly. this stood out today in the very friendly way the president handled it. >> let's talk about the justice department, the office of professional responsibility is reviewing whether lawyers committed misconduct in the handling of the original case against epstein in fl

secretary of labor, alex acosta, to resign from trump's cabinet. before trump appointed alex acosta labor secretary, he was the u.s. attorney, the top federal prosecutor in southern florida and he is the one who made a non-prosecution deal with billionaire jeffrey epstein even after the fbi had amassed evidence of epstein sexually abusing more than three dozen underage girls. at the time alex acosta himself was personally thanked by epstein's lawyers for agreeing specifically not to tell any of epstein's victims about that non-prosecution agreement until after it was already finalized and those victims couldn't do anything about it. there is a federal law that says victims do have to be notified before prosecutors make that kind of an agreement. a federal judge ruled earlier this year that acosta's office broke that law when he went ahead with the deal in secret without telling the victims. that alone, that ruling from a federal judge that acosta's office had broken the law when they did that deal without telling the victims, i mean, that alone mad

labor secretary alex acosta is expected to speak this afternoon. this is amid the controversy surrounding a sweetheart plea deal that he inked a decade ago as u.s. attorney overseeing the case against sex offender jeffrey epstein. now epstein, as we well know, is facing new charges here in new york of sex trafficking. acosta is facing new scrutiny. just as a new woman is coming forward with allegations that epstein assaulted her when she was just 15 years old. the woman, who is now 32, tells nbc news that she was 14 years old, 14 years old when she was first approached outside her new york city high school by a young woman who would later introduce her to the man charged with running a sex trafficking ring. listen to this. >> i didn't necessarily think that he was going to rape me. >> did he hold you there? >> yeah. mm-hmm. >> no question in your mind he knew you did not want that to happen? >> oh, yeah. no, he -- yeah, there was no way. i was like -- i don't want to say i was screaming or anything of that nature. but i was terrified and i was tell

the man who headed the florida case, alex acosta, now secretary of labor in the trump administration. >> at the end of the day, mr. epstein went to jail. epstein was incarcerated, he registered as a sex offender. >> reporter: the "miami-herald" in an investigative report helping prompt today's charges found that acosta signed off on a deal essentially shutting down an fbi investigation giving immunity to any potential co-conspirators allowing the multi-millionaire to pay restitution to his victims, register as a sex offender and plead guilty to two state charges. he spent 13 months in palm beach county jail where he was allowed to leave, six days a week, 12 hours at a time. >> the world was put on notice

alex acosta will soon speak out. and thousands cheer on the us women's soccer team — and their fight for equal pay — at their ticker tape parade in new york. hello and welcome — i'm katty kay in london, michelle fleury is in new york. british diplomats are supposed to be able to tell their bosses in london what they think, without those thoughts becoming public. they are supposed to be able to give candid analysis without fear of losing theirjobs. today, sir kim darroch, britain's ambassdor to america learned that neither of those things still hold. sir kim resigned today after leaked emails printed in a uk newspaper revealed his less than flattering assesment of the us president. the resignation is highly unsusual and prompts a lot of unsettling questions for british diplomacy and british domestic politics. we will explore all those issues in the programme — starting with this report from our diplomatic correspondent james landale. kim darroch, 42 years a loyal public servant, from a council estate who advis

attorney, alex acosta cut this deal? we know acosta was questioned about this during his last confirmation and he was confirmed. you heard it from the prosecutor, it was reporting from "the miami harold," epstein's accusers have their own private investigators. these young women did not realize that the deal had been cut. >> regardless of where this goes, everything about of what's happening right now has been a massive failure on everybody's part except for "miami harold," a guy that's well known of his activities were and he gets charged and cuts a deal in which he goes to jail and gets out six days a week to go to work. >> he went to jail. >> had a private wing. >> he was staying in a private wing, his own private driver was allowed to pick him up six days a week and he went to his private office. yes, registered as a sex offender but not the jail experience one would assume from a sex offender. when it came up to alex acosta's confirmation hearing, a lot of people wondering, then and now, this is stuff happening is t

alex acosta agreed to do his deal in secret. crime victims have the right to be told when there are plea negotiation going on, but alex acosta did not notify the victims before he granted him that plea deal. epstein's lawyers asked acosta to keep the deal a secret and acosta agreed. courtney wild, one of the victim who is was kept in the dark about that deal, she sued the government alleging that alex acosta and his team broke the law by keeping secret from her and all the other victims the fact that they gave epstein this non-prosecution deal. she filed that naught 11 yelaws ago and it dragged on for over a decade. she bravely and courageously put her name on the record and told her story to the "miami herald." courtney wild did not give up and drop her case after all that time. eventually earlier this year a judge agreed with her, ruling that the current secretary of labor, alex acosta broke the law when he agreed to keep that deal a secret from his victims. and yet still even then, there was no justice for courtney wild and h

the labor secretary alex acosta. many of your democratic presidential candidates and a lot of democrats in congress, they're demanding that he resign because of the way he treated jeffrey epstein. more than a decade ago when he was the u.s. attorney in south florida. what do you think? >> well, i heard the president say that the secretary is a terrific guy. well, i tell you terrific guys don't give sweetheart deals to sex offenders because they're a billionaire and that's what happened here, and, unfortunately, this is a continuation of a pattern in this administration. this isn't just a onoff offense. this administration is of billionaires, by billionaires and for billionaires. this is just another incident of demonstrating that. this roegue's cabinegallery of members. he needs to go. >> so you're joining the other democratic candidates? >> you bet. >> you want him to resign. >> he should resign. >> if he doesn't resign, you want the president to fire him? >> yes. >> what if the president doesn't fire him and he doe

now, alex acosta has stepped down. he is going to leave after 7 days he said that's when the resignation will be effective. but of course the question mere is about just how many acting officials now are in the president's cabinet ahead of a cabinet meeting they are going to have here at the white house next week? and saw the president today standing next to alex acosta. he had to look down at a piece of paper to see who it's going to be running the labor department. >> hard to keep track when everybody is heading out. great to see you kaitlan. thank you so much. outfront april ryan, white house correspondent for american urban radio networks. david irvin and adviser to the president trump's 2020 campaign. and joan walsh correspondent for the nation. april, the turns from one day to the next are hard to keep track of here. now he has coates in the hot seat again. unclear exactly why. you're at the white house day in and day out. is everyone in constant fear the president is going to turn on them next? >> yes, and you k

this came up in alex acosta's hearing. this was a known fact. all of the details about this were not known the "miami herald" has done a remarkable job in reporting it alex acosta suggested in his press conference if not for him, things could have been worse he talked about the rolling of the dice of going to take jeffrey epstein to court versus agreeing to this deal. you are obviously a specialist and having been a prosecutor, were you able to make sense of what alex acosta was trying to get across and whether it made sense? >> it's contrary to everything i know about his office. for years i worked with the office he led. the southern district of florida in miami that's an office that makes big drug cases and they make those cases by using witnesses who come with a lot of baggage witnesses who had been deal drugs and all sorts of misconduct the notion that somehow his office wouldn't be able to convict in a case where witnesses had come forward because they were pictures on social media holding a beer, that just doesn't make any sense. no prose

the headline, alex acosta will speak before cameras. this will be our first chance to hear what he makes of all of this and what he has to say about his role and his plans. no indication that this is a plan to step down. although many democrats have called for his resignation. republicans have not done so yet. and the president, as far as we can tell, based on his public statements, remains supportive of acosta. hallie. >> kelly o'donnell, busy morning at the white house for you. let me bring in 2020 presidential candidate senator michael bennet of colorado. i know you have to hustle tout votes. i want your reaction to the news that secretary acosta will speak on camera today. is there anything that he could say that would change your mind on the resignation that you called for him? >> i think that is highly unlikely. the reason we are where we are today is because of incredible reporting by the "miami herald". it sounds to me like if sex acosta had been as diligent as the "miami herald" has been in reaching out to victims, they would n

. >>> this morning, there are growing calls for labor secretary alex acosta to resign. he's defending his role in securing a plea deal for wealthy sex offender jeffrey epstein more than a decade ago while top democrats demand that he step down. >>> plus, new reporting from nbc news. details how migrant children held in a border station in yuma, arizona, not only told about the conditions but also sexual assault. >>> and a federal organization rejects the dispute over the 2020 census. >>> good morning, it's mens july 10th, i'm geoff bennett alongside alex witt. how many hours of television have we done together and we're meeting in person just today. >> yeps i'm here for you. >> thank you. >>> to the top stories. president trump said he's not a fan of registered sex offender jeffrey epstein. that's a contrast to the comments in the new york magazine in which he's quoted as saying i've known jeff for 15 years. terrific guy. he's fun to be with. it's even said that he likes women like i do and many of them are on the younger side. here's what president trump told reporters

you heard bryan llenas refer to alex acosta saying there was no evidence. look at this from julie brown. she's a ""miami herald"" investigative reporter. she said this. >> and then we'll listen to this sound bite from lindsey graham. >> if this plea deal doesn't withstand scrutiny, it would be a job of the judiciary committee to find out how it got off the rails, what kinds of checks and balances do we have to make sure complaints involving minor children are investigated. >> dana: that is the issue, the plea agreement and was it held inappropriately so from the victim so they didn't know what was happening. >> i think we're at the beginning of this. not even the middle. we're at the beginning of this entire thing. you have the clinton statement about bill clinton going on four trips. now there's reports of the flight manifest being 26 flights. you'll see all kinds of different elements come out tied to this case. the people down in miami, the people in florida, know how those families were feeling when this plea deal was struck. so i think capitol hill wil

, alex acosta was asked to look back on the handling of the case, he deflected. he refused to. he said professionals were making decisions. he didn't accept responsibility. >> he didn't of the he put the blame on the state prosecutors. it is true that the feds stepped in to some extent because there was concern by the palm beach sheriff's office. ultimately, he has the ultimate say in that office. he was aware of this deal. he met with one of epstein's lawyers who was a former law partner of his and his office brought other sex trafficking cases involving individuals that were accused of trafficking many fewer victims than the dozens accused in this case. ultimately, the buck does stop with the top u.s. attorney in that office. that was acosta at the time and he signed off on the deal. >> it was in florida. he has that responsibility. thank you very much for that report. we're also following intense democratic preparations right now for next week's public testimony for the former special counsel, robert mueller. let's to go our senior correspondent. how are democ

people like mick mulvaney, i thought it was very amusing when alex acosta said, mick mulvaney called me and said we've got a great relationship. i mean, give me a break. i mean, mick mulvaney has been very dissatisfied with the slow speed of deregulation going on at labor, conservative movement as a whole in terms of many conservative leaders on the outside are very unhappy with him. so he doesn't have a lot of allies and friends inside this administration. it's actually the president who's probably got the best relationship. trump quite like it's, but that could change. >> i want to get the best reporters on the beat in two bright minds in charlie and juice joyce and i want to pin you guys down on something. donald trump watched blasey testify and he was reported by one or all of you to have gone shaky in that intervening period or to have found christine compelling. does acosta, annie, rise to the kavanaugh performance, which in that instance tilted to trump? >> that's exactly the example i was going to bring up and that is what was in the back of my head as i watched him take the

alex acosta is set to speak out with his past connection to epstein. we'll hear from his new accuser, she said epstein raped her when she was a 15 years old child. plus, how migrants are being treated including abuse and sexual assaults. >> the president's golf club is holding a charity today hosted by a strip club. nbc news has exclusively obtained dozens of accounts by children collected by government case managers that alleged mistreatment of the hands of u.s. border agents in arizona. a 15-year-old girl from honduras described a large beirded officer putting his hands inside her bra and what is meant to be a pat down. a spokesperson responded to the report saying, u.s. customs and border patrol treats those in our custody with dignity and respect. the allegations do not align with common practice at our facilities and will be fully investigated. >> jacob soboroff, one of the reporters who broke this story who's been covering the migrant crisis from the beginning. the 15-year-old girl went onto say the officer was laughing during the pat down and sh

i submitted my resignation to the president effective seven days from today. >> alex acosta alex acosta indicating two days ago we have no plan stepping down as labor secretary him, then decided to t even the president didn't ask him. we bring in our panel, mollie hemingway of the federalist, new book of justice on trial. charles lane for "the washington post" ." mollie, do you have any sense that alex acosta jumped or was pushed? >> at the president wanted to make sure he stayed there, he stayed there. this is a sign that this case, this epstein case is something going to royal washington. acosta was the a csa who made the plea agreement. >> chris: the assistant attorney. >> he was acting as an informant of the fbi which robert mueller was at the head of at the time. >> chris: epstein, not a cost. >> chris: chuck, it's so interesting. acosta said he did not want to be a distraction but he held a news conference for an hour on wednesday and most of washington thought he is trying to keep his job. certainly indicated he wanted to keep his job. what do you think happened? >> one of the st

alex acosta, the labor secretary, facing more and more calls to resign this morning o over how he handled the jeffrey epstein's deal in 2008. when acosta, u.s. attorney at the time, struck up the non-prosecution agreement with epste epstein. we expect to hear from chuck schumer any minute on the senate floor. you can see that in the top left-hand side of your screen. he may talk about all of this any second. i'm told acosta is not considering stepping down. a top white house official is defending him for now. so far no word from the president himself on acosta's future. back in february, president trump praised his labor secretary for doing a great job when asked about the handling of epstein's case. and in 2002, then private citizen donald trump told "new york" magazine, jeffrey epstein was a, quote, terrific guy. saying he likes beautiful women as much as i do and many of them are on the younger side, no doubt about it. jeffrey enjoys his social life. donald trump is not was implicated in epstein's alleged crimes. the president has seen or talked to him in more than a decade. epstein is

the labor secretary alex acosta is stepping down. the presen announcing his resignation just a few moments ago at the white house. acosta as you know has been under pressure to resign for his links to billionaire jeffrey epstein. he was arrested earlier this month on sex trafficking charges. we will bring you more as we get it. >>> right now, a warning if you have plans to hit the beach this weekend, there have been multiple great white shark sightings in half-moon bay. we're talking at the area between pillar point harbor and the ritz-carlton. abc 7 reporter, live at frances beach this morning. hunter. >> yeah, reggie, good morning, anybody planning on visiting the beaches here at half-moon bay are being advised to enter at your own risk. the san mateo county sheriff's department tweeted about it. they said pilots flying overhead saw some sharks from up above. the sheriff's department wrote if visiting the area, please use caution. the sharks were seen between the ritz-carlton and pillar point. now, according to some marine biologis

eastern today we will hear from alex acosta. don't know yet. no notes, on or off the record, that we know of. couldn't share the off part. but now not hearing anything at what's coming. we will be glued, 2:30 p.m. eastern, to fox. >> charlie: i'll be watching. >> harris: a power struggle within the democratic party as speaker pelosi refuses to back down to a handful of freshmen members. by the democratic leader says she has no regrets with the way she has handled the so-called fly. to the backlash, after a city votes to stop reciting the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of a meeting. why they say the move was neede needed. >> and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, usa! usa! usad ! ♪ it lets you borrow up to 100 percent of your home's value. not just 80 percent like other loans. and that can mean a lot more money for you and your family. with our military service, veterans like us have earned a valuable va benefit. the right to apply for a va home loan. the newday va loan lets you refinance your mortgages, consolid

i want to ask you about alex acosta's press conference. first of all, is there anything that you heard that he said that you do not think to be true? >> well, there were a number of things. and i -- he managed to present it in a way that it sounds true if you really don't read the court records and understand the sequence of events. i guess there is a lot to unpack. there are two areas, i think, number one his argument about the evidence and whether there were adequate witnesses, if the witnesses were strong enough to testify, look, he didn't need all -- he had 36 girls who all told the same story which is amazing. and i talked to only a handful of them and they all said, you know, exactly what the m.o. was. sarah would call me and we set it up for 3:00, i went into the kitchen and went up this curving stairway. it isn't just the witnesses and whether they were scared to testify, which by the way i heard one of the lawyers mention, it is the job of the prosecutors to make them feel secure enough to testify. and so that -- that is one thing