Former Labor secretary will be interviewed in House Epstein probe

Source: Politico

08/25/2025 03:21 PM EDT


President Donald Trump’s first secretary of Labor will answer questions from House investigators next month about his involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein case.

House Oversight Chair James Comer said Monday that Alex Acosta, who led the Labor Department from 2017 to 2019, has agreed to sit for a transcribed interview with the panel on Sept. 19.

As U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Acosta signed off on a 2008 deal that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to a single state charge, ending a long-running FBI investigation without federal charges. The deal is now widely seen as being unduly favorable to Epstein, who was later charged with federal sex trafficking charges and subsequently died by suicide in Justice Department custody.

Acosta defended the 2008 deal after the federal charges were filed in 2019, while he was serving in the first Trump administration. The prior deal, he said, forced Epstein to register as a sex offender and put the public on notice of his behavior.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/25/alex-acosta-house-interview-epstein-00523338