Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Epstein Charges Put Scrutiny On Labor Secys Role In 2008 Plea Deal | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC

we begin this morning with the growing

calls for president Trump's labor

secretary Alexander Acosta to step down

one day after the legal controversies

surrounding billionaire financier

Jeffrey Epstein erupted here in New York

City Epstein appeared in a courtroom

Monday pleading not guilty to charges he

sex trafficked girls as young as 14 from

2002 to 2005 and he paid them hundreds

of dollars in cash for you guessed it

sex but here's where secretary Acosta

comes into the picture

back in 2008 Acosta was the US attorney

in Miami who oversaw a non-prosecution

deal that allowed Epstein to plead

guilty to a lesser state charge in

Florida that deal was widely criticized

too lenient because Epstein served only

13 months in a County Jail and he was

able to leave that jail six days a week

on a work release program to his private

office Acosta has defended the plea deal

as appropriate under the circumstances

including this past April before the

House Appropriations Subcommittee as I

was saying the Department of Justice for

the past 12 years has defended the

actions of the office in this case the

end of the day mr. Epstein went to jail

Epstein was incarcerated he registered

as a sex offender the world was put on

notice that he was a sex offender and

the victims received restitution 13

months in county jail 12 hours a day

work release you consider that justice

for the conversation of these girls over

night House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

demanded Acosta stepped down in the

following tweet as US Attorney he

engaged in an unconscionable agreement

with Jeffrey Epstein kept secret from

courageous young victims preventing them

from seeking justice this was known by

President Trump when he appointed him to

the cabinet hashtag Acosta resign and

this morning a new op-ed by the Miami

Herald is also calling on Acosta to

resign that is the very same paper that

brought to light the 2008

non-prosecution agreement through

series of reports last year joining us

now MSNBC contributor and moveon.org

chief public affairs officer Kareem

jean-pierre NBC News investigations

correspondent Tom winter MSNBC

contributor and executive editor of

Bloomberg opinion Tim O'Brien and former

prosecutor and criminal defense attorney

our legal mine this morning Robert

Bianchi Tomas you were at the courthouse

yesterday so we must turn to you first

get us up to speed on Epstein's legal

battle okay so where it stands right now

is he's in he's in detention he's at MCC

which is a criminal complex or a holding

complex downtown it's by the courts so

he's gonna be there and he's gonna be

there till at least Monday and that's

because because of the bail Reform Act

as soon his as soon as his defense

attorneys say hey we want to propose a

bail package for him whether or not the

judge wants to grant it whether or not

the judge thinks it's appropriate his

defense is allowed to at least present

that so they're gonna have a hearing on

Monday there's gonna be a flurry of

responses towards the end of this week

we'll see them we'll hear about them

we'll report about them and basically at

that point then on Monday we assume that

the judge that's going to be overseeing

this case judge Berman he'll be the one

that will decide whether or not Jeffrey

Epstein can come out on bail or whether

or not he's going to be detained pending

trial in this case the the factors

against Epstein are so strong that he's

a convicted felon that he's somebody who

is a registered sex offender and that

they did find those images during that

search warrant on Saturday night at his

house on the Upper East Side

chances of him getting out I mean it's

stunning the guy went to jail for it

registered sex offender right and four

days ago

no biggie he's got a catalog of nude

photos of women under the age of 18 how

does that even happen yeah a quote

extraordinary amount of photos either

young girls or young women that were

found semi nude or nude some were found

on CDs that were locked in in a safe

that he had so I think when you look at

it what judge looks at that that doesn't

look like a rehabilitative behavior and

that's what prosecutors said that looks

like behavior that is just continuing to

go forward for him so I think that

that's from a legal standpoint that's

that's the next thing for Epstein and

then I would expect immediately after

that a motion to dismiss a motion to

throughout the case by Epstein's defense

attorney

they signaled that in court yesterday

saying hey we signed this

non-prosecution agreement and and that

should that should absolve us from any

future charges prosecutors here in New

York are gonna take a strong stance

against it saying hey look the document

that you signed only said for the

Southern District of Florida and we're

not the Southern District of Florida so

it's it's a it's a moot point so I think

those are going to be the two Knicks

from a legal standpoint those are the

next two big challenges are the two next

markers in this case if you will that

certainly does not sound like a

rehabilitated man Kareem let's talk

about the growing calls for labor

secretary Acosta's resignation he is the

one responsible for the non-prosecution

agreement prosecutors in Florida had a

53 page indictment ready to roll he

stepped in he big-footed them he met

privately with Epstein's Kirkland and

Ellis attorneys and the next thing you

know he's charged with a much lesser

offense and he's in jail for 13 months

Nancy Pelosi says time to go Acosta

what's he have to say yeah I think in

any other administration Acosta would

not have a job right now his involvement

with that deal the non-prosecution deal

is just abhorrent the fact that he only

got 13 months this is Epstein only got

13 months 12 hours you know a

work-release it's just completely insane

those victim those young girls did not

get any justice and thank goodness that

the SDN y is taking this up again

they're taking this very seriously and

what Epstein is accused of is horrific

and not just that but whoever any of the

enablers whoever in whatever level they

knew about this need to be held

accountable it doesn't matter what party

affiliation you have how powerful you

are

how well-connected you are you need to

be held accountable as well as Epstein

Tim and your latest piece entitled

Epstein's arrest is a worry for Donald

Trump what do you mean by that well I

think that I think you know there are

two sort of skeletons in the epstein

closet that that still need to be

explored further the first is one of the

kind of information or tapes does he

have on this large network of

politicians businesspeople which goes

far beyond the president again it goes

to people on both sides of the political

aisle it go

to influentials in Palm Beach in New

York you know we don't know what's there

the second thing is how did AB Steen

manage his money and where did the money

come from you know we only know that he

had one major investor early when he

opened up his last Wexner other than

that there's a mystery around how he was

funded and he was funded for a long time

he was funded in a way that allowed him

to support a lifestyle that included

about a hundred million dollars in real

estate he needed substantial income just

to afford that lifestyle so he clearly

had money coming in it wasn't just a

Potemkin village but now where does he

get it from he has to have had millions

of dollars in legal fees it's unclear

what he does for a living now and he's a

registered sex offender

how does he afford this lifestyle

yesterday the prosecutor said he's a man

of unlimited means well and then so that

I think raises that that that to me is

gonna be one of the key things

investigators gonna have to sort out

here is the extent to which Epstein was

able to use blackmail or other

information to compel people to fund him

or play ball with him who otherwise

might not have and I think if that door

gets opened up you're gonna get this

very seedy look at how power functions

in New York and in Palm Beach

we should note that while the President

did have a relationship with Jeffrey

Epstein he had been on his airplane

multiple times according to court

documents that were filed by a lawyer

representing three of Epstein's victims

President Trump then banned his former

friend from our Lago because he sexually

assaulted an underage girl at the club

wait a sec though that's been put out

over the last day on this two things

that lawyer who represented the women

who had been attacked by Jeff Epstein he

actually agreed to trump with Trump not

to put him under a deposition he had

subpoenaed him for a deposition

they then reached a gentlemen's

agreement in which Trump went in for a

private interview it was off the record

but he did say he was very cool said it

was cooperative but we never know

actually what information was shared as

part of that I'm not saying that we call

it a gentlemen's agreement when we're

talking about dudes and young girls and

I think this is the thing that so

infuriated the assistant director of the

FBI yesterday bill Sweeney I mean he was

he was about as Stern as I have ever

seen him at a press conference he runs

the New York field office of the FBI and

you know he really was upset with this

idea of we don't ever talk about these

things that there are adults that are

fully aware of the fact that these acts

are occurring and nobody ever comes out

in and says anything and people don't

step forward and say this is wrong and

we need to do something about it I mean

it was a it was a little bit of a

lecture and morality from the assistant

director but this is a guy that sees

this type of behavior all the time

obviously knows the case file here and

knows things that we don't know yet with

respect to Epstein and was somebody

who's really disgusted about what we saw

yesterday I mean a gentleman's agreement

over what we're talking about somebody

who's who's allegedly evolved and has

already pleaded guilty to in the past

his involvement with underage girls this

is read it's just like kind of gross

well there you shared this outrage you

say this is just the tip of the iceberg

yeah at this entire I think that they

should be looking into a cost about this

particular deal I used to prepare these

deals and these deals were created Miami

Herald did a great job through the

defense lawyers they were dictating the

terms of the deal so walk us through

this so people truly understand when you

say you used to prepare these deals as a

defense attorney as a prosecutor as a

prosecutor so you would prepare these in

what circumstance would you ever go to

the defense team and have them dictate

to you here's what you're gonna do about

absolutely not Stephanie the first thing

that got me about this case well before

it became this indictment came down was

that you're meeting with a defense

attorney in the Marriott and you're

discussing this case after the FBI is

going internationally not just in the

United States getting up to 80 victims

and more victims on the plate they had a

53 page indictment prepared that they

may go forward with and then all the

sudden there's a meeting in the Marriott

and it's going into a non-prosecution

agreement I handle these cases as a

prosecutor and defense allure I have one

more person does a singular act of

taking a minor over state lines and

there were offers are in the area of

seven years in federal prison plus state

time and that's just for a single person

out of conspiracy to sex traffic women

from across the world so

prosecutor and defense lawyer looking at

this there can't be a singular one I

challenge anyone to come forward and say

that this is non-prosecution agreement

which was repaired by the defense

essentially which hid from the victims

everything that was going on he had from

the judge essentially what was going on

is anywhere near what a typical

non-prosecution agreement is we extend

it to the co-conspirator this is what I

need someone to explain to me why why

would you extend immunity to the

co-conspirators if I'm Alexander Acosta

and I'm cutting a deal what am I getting

out of Epstein that makes me want to

hook up the co-conspirators except for

the fact that the people who he traveled

with were among some of the most

powerful people in the world right so

this is not prosecution agreement says

the four accomplices they're immune

they're covered and why why would he

help me understand why one would agree

that something like Walker I don't see a

cooperation agreement in there that

that's the thing that doesn't make sense

there's no indication that Epstein ever

provided any additional information to

any other case of any sort of

significance and I know there was cells

laughing about the Bear Stearns Asset

Management in a couple of those funds

that blew up in the in during the CDO

crisis but you know what that never held

water and he never testified in that

trial he was involved in those so that

he never put it in a non-prosecution but

there's one other permutation that he

can kind of miss and any other

unidentified co-conspirator any other

why why would you offer something you

know what you don't do it just you know

from looking at this as a lawyer that

this was dictated by the defense to hide

it from the media to protect everyone

associated with this he gave nothing you

give non prosecution agreements for

minor low-level offense it's not

something like this especially when the

FBI look at this the the police that

were investigating it the FBI

everyone was outraged by this and yet

very few people said

you know why they do this this happens

when people are thinking about running

for political office later in their

lives and are thinking about lining up

money and lining up influence and when

they're in a role as a prosecutor or in

any kind of public service role they're

trading off a present favor for a future

debt okay then to that point Kareem I

want to share what Michelle Goldberg

wrote in her op-ed for the New York

Times calling this plutocratic rot

she writes powerful elites enabled the

financier accused of trafficking

underage girls

she was the following examples Alexander

Acosta oversaw the non-prosecution

agreement in 2008 and she adds the

Manhattan district attorney's office

under Democrats i Vance asked a judge to

downgrade Epstein's sex offender status

from a level 3 which is the most serious

to a level 1 the least what do you make

of that

you know what it what rings at me when I

hear that and I look at this case as a

whole or the situation as a whole is how

broken the justice system is and how

just the inequalities of this I mean you

hear you have a very wealthy man

millionaire billionaire however you want

to argue that who is well-connected to

both you know Democrats and Republicans

we have to be really honest here who is

you know like I said well-connected rich

wealthy and who gets essentially a

sweetheart deal he gets a slap on the

wrist in Florida for what for what he

did there and if it was anybody else

anybody else any of us regular people we

would not have gotten away with this in

particular people of color and poor

people and that's what screams at me

when I read this besides the fact that

these young girls did not get you know

they did not get justice vulnerable

girls just briefly you know as important

is and I've read the non-prosecution

agreement we have a copy of it as

important as the all the other factors

around it are to me there are eight

specific violations of US criminal code

that are named there some of them are

very similar to the charges that were

brought by the US Attorney's Office for

the Southern District of New York

yesterday it says that the FBI and the

US Attorney's Office found these

violations you have eight specific

violations and for some reason that went

away that carrier and I think the life

sentence by the way essentially a life

sentence exactly right and I think life

sentence he got 13 months and Jeffrey

Epstein went on to joke about it prison

in a very lenient term who's allowed to

leave for work release during the day I

mean it wasn't even right that he was

allowed to you know just be there for 13

months in a regular jail facility

looking over this day I have the State

Police I have the state attorney file

which includes the Palm Beach Police

Department investigation and reading

over that and reading over the

statements that they were able to get

from the victims it's just I don't want

that to ever get lost in our in as we

talked about this because obviously

there's a lot to talk about here when I

look at that the things that they say

the things that these girls had to deal

with because they're all under the age

of 18 Epstein ordering them to take off

the clothes they talked about his

imposing physical presence he's six feet

tall 180 pounds according to his florida

law enforcement records didn't have very

much money they they did not have very

much money and they came to call them

prostitutes a fourteen-year-old that he

pled guilty with a prostitute a girl

that can't even consent under the law

who's being abused they had the temerity

to allow them to go in and say that by

the way Stephanie to your point with the

judge on side Vance the judge looked at

that and said I have never seen a

prosecutor coming to court to lower the

registration requirement for a sex

offender with a case like this that the

judge was outraged she sought as well

it's disgusting

well Simon that you're watching you were

welcome to join me on TV I would love to

understand why you would want it to go

from a level 3 to a level 1 hey there

I'm Chris Hayes from MSNBC thanks for

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