Latest news with #AlexAcosta
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Newsmax star defends Alex Acosta's sweetheart plea deal for Epstein — but ignores the network's conflict of interest
Newsmax may have its own Jeffrey Epstein problem. Over the course of the past week, its MAGA-boosting host Greg Kelly has repeatedly gone to bat for Alex Acosta, the former federal prosecutor who negotiated the secret so-called 'sweetheart' plea deal with Epstein in 2008 the Justice Department later said was made in 'poor judgment.' Throughout multiple primetime segments, Kelly has described Acosta – who resigned as President Donald Trump's Labor Secretary in 2019 amid renewed scrutiny of the Epstein plea agreement – as a 'nice guy' and 'great individual' who was only targeted by liberals to 'embarrass' Trump by 'rebooting' the Epstein story. Kelly on Monday night suggested Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell didn't deserve her lengthy prison sentence while claiming Acosta was the victim of 'fake news' because 'it wasn't a sweetheart deal' he handed Epstein. Left unsaid in Kelly's efforts to rehabilitate Acosta's reputation, amid the current uproar over the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein case, is that the former secretary now sits on the board of directors for Newsmax. In a press release last month that was flagged by Media Matters, the MAGA network announced Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky had been appointed to the company's board, and joined Acosta, who had joined as a board member following the closing of the network's initial public offering in March. 'We are delighted to officially welcome Secretary Acosta and announce the addition of Ambassador Dobriansky to our Board of Directors,' Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said at the time. 'Their exceptional backgrounds in public service, regulatory policy and international affairs will provide valuable perspectives as we continue to execute our growth strategy and deliver trusted news to the American people and countries around the world.' Besides noting Acosta's time as Secretary of Labor during the first Trump administration, the network's press release also highlighted his time as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, which is where he struck the controversial plea deal with Epstein. Under the 2008 non-prosecution agreement – also known as an NPA – Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. That allowed him to avert a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work-release program. He was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender. A Newsmax spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Kelly's lack of disclosure about Acosta's role with the company. Following the DOJ's two-page July 6 memo concluding that Epstein died by suicide and didn't keep a 'client list' to blackmail prominent figures, the administration has faced a MAGA uproar and continuing calls for the full release of the so-called Epstein files. This has also resulted in a divide within right-wing media on how to best cover the ongoing fallout. After the president began ordering his 'boys' and 'gals' to stop focusing on the late sex predator because the Epstein case was a 'hoax,' Fox News pulled back on its coverage. Newsmax then poked fun at what it called the 'terrified' network for not wanting to 'p*ss off' Trump while claiming the Murdoch-owned channel has 'been essentially mandated not to talk about' Epstein. As the network's hosts have mocked Fox for appearing to ignore the Epstein affair, especially now the president is suing Rupert Murdoch over the Wall Street Journal's bombshell report claiming Trump wrote a 'bawdy' birthday card for Epstein, Kelly has crafted his own counter-narrative to downplay the dead sex offender's crimes. And this has resulted in the pro-Trump anchor running a defense for the network's board member. Trump has strongly denied he ever wrote or drew anything for the Epstein card. After spending the first few days of the current Epstein saga pondering whether 'Epstein is a patriot' and if this was the reason Acosta negotiated a non-prosecution agreement that saw the financier serve just 13 months in jail while shutting down an FBI probe into more potential sex crimes, Kelly began suggesting Acosta was unfairly maligned. Kelly has claimed Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald reporter whose deep-dive investigation into Epstein in 2018 and the 'deal of a lifetime' he received from Acosta brought renewed interest in the case, 'rebooted' the story in an effort to take down Trump. 'The Epstein story was rebooted because they wanted to embarrass the Labor Secretary,' he stated last Monday. 'You remember it was anything, anything you could get on Trump.' After saying that Epstein was 'not the only one who got a sweetheart deal,' Kelly would later move the goalposts and declare that the light sentence the convicted sex offender received actually wasn't abnormal at all. 'Alex Acosta was gone; he had to resign because that was the game the Deep State was playing,' Kelly bemoaned on Wednesday before adding: 'President Trump won't let that happen again and it's kind of awesome to see!' During a lengthy segment on Monday evening, Kelly spun an intricate tale that not only saw Acosta as a full-fledged victim but also suggested both Maxwell and Epstein were essentially railroaded. 'Well, that's horrible and wrong and disgusting, but also happened a very long time ago. 2002 to 2005. This is in 2019 when he was arrested,' Kelly said, describing the DOJ's 2019 charges against Epstein. 'And if anybody actually looks at the indictment, it's suspiciously a long time ago.' Saying it's 'not the case' that Epstein was 'running a sex operation', Kelly then said about Maxwell's 20-year prison sentence: 'Maybe she deserves it. Maybe she doesn't.' He then turned back towards Acosta's role in the plea bargain and argued that he acted appropriately. 'There had to be a Trump angle. Acosta was appointed Labor Secretary by President Trump. He was in a courtroom in 2008 with Epstein,' he proclaimed. 'I already went through it. It wasn't a sweetheart deal, not compared to similar sex crimes.' Kelly also insisted that Acosta didn't resign 'in disgrace,' asserting that Trump knew his departing secretary 'was getting screwed' and that he liked that the president 'showed up' for Acosta. At the time of his resignation, Acosta defended his work as the federal prosecutor in Florida's southern district, saying in his 'heart we were trying to do the right thing for these victims' and that 'we believe that we proceeded appropriately.' In a televised appearance alongside Acosta, Trump stated that the secretary had called him and offered to resign, claiming the controversy had become a distraction for the administration. 'He made a deal [with Epstein] that people are happy with, and then 12 years later, they are not happy with it. You'll have to figure all of that out,' Trump declared, calling him a 'fantastic secretary of labor.' One network staffer told The Independent that it wasn't shocking to see the lengths that Kelly would go to rehabilitate the image of the former Trump administration official and current Newsmax board member. 'After all, this is now the Trump network,' the staffer snarked, referencing the recent announcement that Newsmax had partnered with Trump Media & Technology Group to launch a TV streaming platform. 'Some people are very upset about partnering with Trump,' another Newsmax insider noted. 'Even the most conservative people at Newsmax think it's a terrible look and they feel like state-run media.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
CNN host laughs at Republican senator as he fact-checks him on Epstein ‘sweetheart' deal
CNN's Jake Tapper repeatedly fact-checked a Republican senator on air Sunday as the lawmaker insisted that Democrats and Barack Obama's administration were at fault for a 'sweetheart' deal that allowed Jeffrey Epstein to escape his 2008 conviction on child sex charges virtually unscathed. Sen. Markwayne Mullin appeared on CNN's State of the Union and repeatedly claimed that a plea agreement to keep Epstein from being charged federally for child sex crimes was signed in 2009, under the Obama administration. But Epstein's plea agreement was drafted in 2007 and signed in 2008, when he pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for sex, before Obama was even president. 'It was 2008,' Tapper corrected him, chuckling. Tapper noted that the U.S. attorney who oversaw the non-prosecution agreement was Alex Acosta, who went on become Donald Trump's secretary of labor during his first administration. 'It all took place in 2008,' Tapper said. Mullin then shot back, asking 'who was in office at the time?' — seemingly making the error of assuming that Obama was the president. Obama won the presidential election that year but was inaugurated in January 2009. 'In 2008, George W. Bush was the president,' Tapper said, as he was cut off by Mullin repeating his question. 'George W. Bush.' Mullin went on to insist that because the case was 'sealed in 2009' that Democrats were somehow involved. A clearly exasperated Tapper responded that 'the point is, the 'sweetheart deal', which was completed in 2008, was under the Bush administration.' The plea agreement inked between Acosta and Epstein's attorney, Alan Dershowitz, was staggering in its leniency. Epstein was allowed to leave the prison facility for hours at a time for 'work release' to the headquarters of a nebulous enterprise called the 'Florida Science Foundation' he founded shortly before beginning his sentence and shut down when it concluded. Inside the prison, Epstein was allowed to maintain his own office, just as he'd done at Harvard University for years, while watching television and was watched by guards who wore suits and were partially on his payroll. Mullin and other Republicans closely aligned with the president are treading a careful line on the issue of the Epstein investigation. The Trump administration ignited a firestorm early in July when the Department of Justice and FBI announced that the agencies would not release any more documents related to the Epstein investigation despite having promised to do so. The agencies cited a refusal to release identifying information about victims and graphic sexual imagery involving children. Most glaringly, the agencies also declared in that early July announcement that a so-called 'client list' of Epstein's alleged co-conspirators had not been found. Having latched on to the issue long before Trump was elected to a second term, his MAGA base descended into chaos. Many of the president's 2024 supporters called the reversal a betrayal by the administration, while some questioned whether Trump himself was involved in a cover-up to protect himself or other powerful men named as Epstein's accomplices in the files. Some Democrats latched on to the issue at the same time, joining calls for transparency. Then, a pair of articles in The Wall Street Journal purported to outline Trump's own connections to the investigation. The newspaper reported the contents of a message allegedly penned by Trump to Epstein as part of a 50th birthday celebration in 2003, including allusions to a 'secret.' Trump firmly denied authoring the note, and sued the newspaper and its reporters in response. A second article from the WSJ days later reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump in May that he was mentioned in the Epstein investigation multiple times, thought it was not clear in what context The White House called that story 'fake' and has repeatedly insinuated that Democrats including Joe Biden tampered with the Epstein files in response. Being mentioned in the files does not mean wrongdoing, and hundreds of names are reportedly included. Republicans on Capitol Hill are caught in the middle. Some are joining on to a bipartisan effort led by Thomas Massie — a Republican who clashed with the president over the GOP budget reconciliation package earlier this year — and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to force the Justice Department to release the entirety of its document trove, with redactions for child sexual assault material and the names or identifying information of victims. Others more aligned with leadership, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. But Johnson and others have been careful not to label the Epstein story a distraction, to the White House's annoyance. Johnson called the August recess early this past week, sending lawmakers home for the month to avoid a vote legislation from Massie and Khanna.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
CNN host laughs at Republican senator as he fact-checks him on Epstein ‘sweetheart' deal
CNN's Jake Tapper repeatedly fact-checked a Republican senator on air Sunday as the lawmaker insisted that Democrats and Barack Obama's administration were at fault for a 'sweetheart' deal that allowed Jeffrey Epstein to escape his 2008 conviction on child sex charges virtually unscathed. Sen. Markwayne Mullin appeared on CNN's State of the Union and repeatedly claimed that a plea agreement to keep Epstein from being charged federally for child sex crimes was signed in 2009, under the Obama administration. But Epstein's plea agreement was drafted in 2007 and signed in 2008, when he pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for sex, before Obama was even president. 'It was 2008,' Tapper corrected him, chuckling. Tapper noted that the U.S. attorney who oversaw the non-prosecution agreement was Alex Acosta, who went on become Donald Trump's secretary of labor during his first administration. 'It all took place in 2008,' Tapper said. Mullin then shot back, asking 'who was in office at the time?' — seemingly making the error of assuming that Obama was the president. Obama won the presidential election that year but was inaugurated in January 2009. 'In 2008, George W. Bush was the president,' Tapper said, as he was cut off by Mullin repeating his question. 'George W. Bush.' Mullin went on to insist that because the case was 'sealed in 2009' that Democrats were somehow involved. A clearly exasperated Tapper responded that 'the point is, the 'sweetheart deal', which was completed in 2008, was under the Bush administration.' The plea agreement inked between Acosta and Epstein's attorney, Alan Dershowitz, was staggering in its leniency. Epstein was allowed to leave the prison facility for hours at a time for 'work release' to the headquarters of a nebulous enterprise called the 'Florida Science Foundation' he founded shortly before beginning his sentence and shut down when it concluded. Inside the prison, Epstein was allowed to maintain his own office, just as he'd done at Harvard University for years, while watching television and was watched by guards who wore suits and were partially on his payroll. Mullin and other Republicans closely aligned with the president are treading a careful line on the issue of the Epstein investigation. The Trump administration ignited a firestorm early in July when the Department of Justice and FBI announced that the agencies would not release any more documents related to the Epstein investigation despite having promised to do so. The agencies cited a refusal to release identifying information about victims and graphic sexual imagery involving children. Most glaringly, the agencies also declared in that early July announcement that a so-called 'client list' of Epstein's alleged co-conspirators had not been found. Having latched on to the issue long before Trump was elected to a second term, his MAGA base descended into chaos. Many of the president's 2024 supporters called the reversal a betrayal by the administration, while some questioned whether Trump himself was involved in a cover-up to protect himself or other powerful men named as Epstein's accomplices in the files. Some Democrats latched on to the issue at the same time, joining calls for transparency. Then, a pair of articles in The Wall Street Journal purported to outline Trump's own connections to the investigation. The newspaper reported the contents of a message allegedly penned by Trump to Epstein as part of a 50th birthday celebration in 2003, including allusions to a 'secret.' Trump firmly denied authoring the note, and sued the newspaper and its reporters in response. A second article from the WSJ days later reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump in May that he was mentioned in the Epstein investigation multiple times, thought it was not clear in what context The White House called that story 'fake' and has repeatedly insinuated that Democrats including Joe Biden tampered with the Epstein files in response. Being mentioned in the files does not mean wrongdoing, and hundreds of names are reportedly included. Republicans on Capitol Hill are caught in the middle. Some are joining on to a bipartisan effort led by Thomas Massie — a Republican who clashed with the president over the GOP budget reconciliation package earlier this year — and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to force the Justice Department to release the entirety of its document trove, with redactions for child sexual assault material and the names or identifying information of victims. Others more aligned with leadership, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. But Johnson and others have been careful not to label the Epstein story a distraction, to the White House's annoyance. Johnson called the August recess early this past week, sending lawmakers home for the month to avoid a vote legislation from Massie and Khanna.
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The Independent
23-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Newsmax star defends Alex Acosta's sweetheart plea deal for Epstein — but ignores the network's conflict of interest
Newsmax may have its own Jeffrey Epstein problem. Over the course of the past week, its MAGA-boosting host Greg Kelly has repeatedly gone to bat for Alex Acosta, the former federal prosecutor who negotiated the secret so-called 'sweetheart' plea deal with Epstein in 2008 the Justice Department later said was made in 'poor judgment.' Throughout multiple primetime segments, Kelly has described Acosta – who resigned as President Donald Trump's Labor Secretary in 2019 amid renewed scrutiny of the Epstein plea agreement – as a 'nice guy' and 'great individual' who was only targeted by liberals to 'embarrass' Trump by 'rebooting' the Epstein story. Kelly on Monday night suggested Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell didn't deserve her lengthy prison sentence while claiming Acosta was the victim of 'fake news' because 'it wasn't a sweetheart deal' he handed Epstein. Left unsaid in Kelly's efforts to rehabilitate Acosta's reputation, amid the current uproar over the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein case, is that the former secretary now sits on the board of directors for Newsmax. In a press release last month that was flagged by Media Matters, the MAGA network announced Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky had been appointed to the company's board, and joined Acosta, who had joined as a board member following the closing of the network's initial public offering in March. 'We are delighted to officially welcome Secretary Acosta and announce the addition of Ambassador Dobriansky to our Board of Directors,' Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said at the time. 'Their exceptional backgrounds in public service, regulatory policy and international affairs will provide valuable perspectives as we continue to execute our growth strategy and deliver trusted news to the American people and countries around the world.' Besides noting Acosta's time as Secretary of Labor during the first Trump administration, the network's press release also highlighted his time as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, which is where he struck the controversial plea deal with Epstein. Under the 2008 non-prosecution agreement – also known as an NPA – Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. That allowed him to avert a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work-release program. He was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender. A Newsmax spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Kelly's lack of disclosure about Acosta's role with the company. Following the DOJ's two-page July 6 memo concluding that Epstein died by suicide and didn't keep a 'client list' to blackmail prominent figures, the administration has faced a MAGA uproar and continuing calls for the full release of the so-called Epstein files. This has also resulted in a divide within right-wing media on how to best cover the ongoing fallout. After the president began ordering his 'boys' and 'gals' to stop focusing on the late sex predator because the Epstein case was a 'hoax,' Fox News pulled back on its coverage. Newsmax then poked fun at what it called the 'terrified' network for not wanting to 'p*ss off' Trump while claiming the Murdoch-owned channel has 'been essentially mandated not to talk about' Epstein. As the network's hosts have mocked Fox for appearing to ignore the Epstein affair, especially now the president is suing Rupert Murdoch over the Wall Street Journal's bombshell report claiming Trump wrote a 'bawdy' birthday card for Epstein, Kelly has crafted his own counter-narrative to downplay the dead sex offender's crimes. And this has resulted in the pro-Trump anchor running a defense for the network's board member. Trump has strongly denied he ever wrote or drew anything for the Epstein card. After spending the first few days of the current Epstein saga pondering whether ' Epstein is a patriot' and if this was the reason Acosta negotiated a non-prosecution agreement that saw the financier serve just 13 months in jail while shutting down an FBI probe into more potential sex crimes, Kelly began suggesting Acosta was unfairly maligned. Kelly has claimed Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald reporter whose deep-dive investigation into Epstein in 2018 and the 'deal of a lifetime' he received from Acosta brought renewed interest in the case, 'rebooted' the story in an effort to take down Trump. 'The Epstein story was rebooted because they wanted to embarrass the Labor Secretary,' he stated last Monday. 'You remember it was anything, anything you could get on Trump.' After saying that Epstein was 'not the only one who got a sweetheart deal,' Kelly would later move the goalposts and declare that the light sentence the convicted sex offender received actually wasn't abnormal at all. 'Alex Acosta was gone; he had to resign because that was the game the Deep State was playing,' Kelly bemoaned on Wednesday before adding: 'President Trump won't let that happen again and it's kind of awesome to see!' During a lengthy segment on Monday evening, Kelly spun an intricate tale that not only saw Acosta as a full-fledged victim but also suggested both Maxwell and Epstein were essentially railroaded. 'Well, that's horrible and wrong and disgusting, but also happened a very long time ago. 2002 to 2005. This is in 2019 when he was arrested,' Kelly said, describing the DOJ's 2019 charges against Epstein. 'And if anybody actually looks at the indictment, it's suspiciously a long time ago.' Saying it's 'not the case' that Epstein was 'running a sex operation', Kelly then said about Maxwell's 20-year prison sentence: 'Maybe she deserves it. Maybe she doesn't.' He then turned back towards Acosta's role in the plea bargain and argued that he acted appropriately. 'There had to be a Trump angle. Acosta was appointed Labor Secretary by President Trump. He was in a courtroom in 2008 with Epstein,' he proclaimed. 'I already went through it. It wasn't a sweetheart deal, not compared to similar sex crimes.' Kelly also insisted that Acosta didn't resign 'in disgrace,' asserting that Trump knew his departing secretary 'was getting screwed' and that he liked that the president 'showed up' for Acosta. At the time of his resignation, Acosta defended his work as the federal prosecutor in Florida's southern district, saying in his 'heart we were trying to do the right thing for these victims' and that 'we believe that we proceeded appropriately.' In a televised appearance alongside Acosta, Trump stated that the secretary had called him and offered to resign, claiming the controversy had become a distraction for the administration. 'He made a deal [with Epstein] that people are happy with, and then 12 years later, they are not happy with it. You'll have to figure all of that out,' Trump declared, calling him a 'fantastic secretary of labor.' One network staffer told The Independent that it wasn't shocking to see the lengths that Kelly would go to rehabilitate the image of the former Trump administration official and current Newsmax board member. 'After all, this is now the Trump network,' the staffer snarked, referencing the recent announcement that Newsmax had partnered with Trump Media & Technology Group to launch a TV streaming platform. 'Some people are very upset about partnering with Trump,' another Newsmax insider noted. 'Even the most conservative people at Newsmax think it's a terrible look and they feel like state-run media.'
