Trump needs to fire Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta tonight

Miami Herald

A federal judge ruled that what the Miami Herald rightly labeled a “perversion of justice,” was, for a sexual molester’s young victims, a betrayal of justice, too. Thursday, U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra went so far as to say that former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta and his underling prosecutors actually “broke the law” when they hid a lenient plea agreement from more than 30 underage victims of the Palm Beach hedge fund manager, accused of sexually abusing them.

In his 33-page order, the judge wrote that “particularly problematic was the government’s decision to conceal the existence of the [agreement] and mislead the victims to believe that federal prosecution was still a possibility.”

“When the government gives information to victims, it cannot be misleading. While the government spent untold hours negotiating the terms and implications of the [agreement] with Epstein’s attorneys, scant information was shared with victims.”

One of the more important questions of this whole sordid case has been whether the rights and interests of the victims were protected. Marra’s ruling makes clear that they were not. But victims’ attorney David Boies has wisely suggested that Epstein should face charges — real charges — in another jurisdiction, New York, for instance, where some women say they were trafficked.

Federal prosecutors now have 15 days to negotiate with Epstein’s victims to come up with a settlement. The victims did not seek money or damages as part of the suit.