Secretary Acosta insists he still has support from White House

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Secretary Acosta insists he still has support from White House

Acosta defends Jeffrey Epstein's 2008 plea deal amid calls to resign; reaction and analysis from the 'Special Report' All-Stars.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," July 10, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDER ACOSTA, LABOR SECRETARY: The goal here was straightforward. Put Epstein behind bars, ensured reregistered as a sexual offender, provide victims with the means to seek restitution, and protect the public by putting them on notice that a sexual predator was in their midst.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The Labor Secretary Alex Acosta earlier today explaining his decision to cut a secret plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier, who is now facing charges in New York City of sex trafficking.

Let's bring in our panel now to talk more about this in the departure of the U.K. ambassador to the United States. Matthew Continetti, editor in chief of the "Washington Free Beacon," Susan Page, Washington bureau chief at "USA Today," and Jonah Goldberg, fellow with the American Enterprise Institute. So Acosta was there today for an hour taking questions, explaining the decision that he made, but really he was there trying to save his job. Did he do an adequate job of explaining it?

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": So no apologies, no regrets, refused to address the question of whether he would act differently today, blamed others, didn't take responsibility for himself. But it doesn't matter if it was persuasive to anybody else. It only matters whatever it was persuasive to President Trump, because whether Secretary Acosta keeps his job depends 100 percent on whether the president satisfied with his explanation. And if the political costs get too high, I think that it's hard for secretary Acosta to depend on President Trump's goodwill to keep them in the job.

ROBERTS: So what do you think, Matt, was it credible?

MATTHEW CONTINETTI, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "WASHINGTON FREE BEACON": I think first this was the most memorable press conference to come from the Labor Department in probably decades.

(LAUGHTER)

CONTINETTI: The second thing is, you're right, Susan, that the decision depends ultimately on President Trump, but President Trump makes his decisions often informed by media coverage. And so when I watched the press conference I saw Acosta the lawyer taking his case, but I'm not sure how well he presented that case in television terms, in terms of the passion or in terms of a dramatic event, like maybe an apology or something like that. So I'd be very interested in how President Trump responds to a lot of the imagery on cable TV showing Acosta and Epstein in that two shot, the stills. That's not a good look for the administration buried

ROBERTS: I thought that he was very measured, he didn't get flustered. He seemed fairly unflappable. He was just giving explanations, and took a lot of questions, more so than his staff would have liked him to.

But Barry Krischer, who is a former Palm Beach state attorney who Acosta said was going to let Epstein walk just came out on NBC News and said Acosta's recollection of this is completely wrong.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, and he may be right, but it should not shock us cynics at this table that the person who had all of the blame shifted on him said that's not right. And I think what we are going to see is the great dance of how many people can get shoved under a bus in all of this.

I did not find -- look, there's a reason why, if the reporting is accurate, there's a reason why Acosta was made to give this press conference. Trump told him, actually Acosta said it today that he's doing this because of Donald Trump. I don't think he wanted to give this press conference. I think is a good lawyer and he understood that this was a bad position to be put into. I don't find his arguments all that persuasive. He says that there weren't enough witnesses who came forward. The "Miami Herald" reporter said the police report, which was heavily redacted, had over 100 jane does in it. There was plenty of evidence to go on. This whole thing stinks.

And also I think the second shoe to drop is the absolute bizarreness of Jeffrey Epstein's business model. I think we would have another Madoff situation here where this turns also into a major financial scandal.

ROBERTS: People are spinning all sorts of conspiracy theories as to how he was making his money.

Based off what you said, the number of witnesses that they had out there, the number of victims that they had out there, the question that kind of rolled around in my mind was if the threat of federal prosecution was enough to extract a plea deal from him, why was it not strong enough to take him to court?

PAGE: There are a lot of questions we don't know the answer to. It's not a credible explanation of what happened. And the idea that this was a different time, people didn't believe victims of sexual abuse like they do today. It's not like this happened in the 19th century. This was the most recent past. It's the most horrific kinds of stories. The fact that a wealthy man recruited teenage girls and abused them and was known for doing this, an open secret, and they couldn't more effectively prosecute him, he ends up going to jail for 13 months and is able to leave six days a week to do his job? That doesn't seem right.

ROBERTS: Now Acosta says he thought he was going to spend 18 months in jail, and he said the work release program was BS. But Matt, where do you think this goes from here? Democrats want to haul him up on Capitol Hill and grill him.

CONTINETTI: I'm not really surprised by that. I think they sense a political opportunity, and they also want to shift I think the focus from Epstein's connection to Democrats to the Trump administration. This is part of that campaign. If the media coverage continues the way it does, I do think Acosta is in trouble.

ROBERTS: Let's jump to the U.K. ambassador, Sir Kim Darroch. A fixture that many people in the media know well in this town. I've been invited up to the British Embassy a number of times for off the record lunches and breakfasts with him. He is now leaving because of what he said in confidential cables about the president. He got some backup from Jeremy Hunt, who could be the next British prime minister, who said he is "deeply saddened to hear of the resignation of Sir Kim Darroch. Standing up for Britain means standing up for the finest diplomats in the world. It should never have come to this." The president really went after him hard. Is that just the president punching bag, Jonah, or is there some diplomatic maneuver here that the president is trying to extract by saying to Britain, you're supposed to be our best friend, and look what you're doing?

GOLDBERG: I would be a little nervous if more diplomatic cables like this from other embassies start coming out, because I don't think Darroch's analysis is that out of the main from other embassies.

ROBERTS: It might be tame compared to some.

GOLDBERG: I think this is a classic example -- if I were Acosta I would be worried about this precedent. What happened to Darroch was utterly unfair, these leaks were unfair, but it put him in an untenable situation. It doesn't matter that it was unfair to him. The same argument can be made about Acosta being secretary of labor. It may be unfair, his defenses may be true, but it's hard to do your job.

ROBERTS: What's more worrisome, the fact that he said this or the fact that somehow these cables leaked and maybe there's talk that it was a hack?

PAGE: I think it's more worrisome that they leaked. The assessment of President Trump and his administration was pretty critical. However, that is what diplomats are paid to do. They're paid to inform their capitals, their leaders about what they see going on in Washington. But who leaked these, was it just political mischief by somebody or was it a case of foreign interests trying to divide us from a special ally?

ROBERTS: Maybe we will find out. Panel, thanks very much, and sorry we only had one segment today.

When we come back, a ticker tape parade for America's World Cup champions. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Finally tonight, the World Cup champion U.S. Women's Soccer Team was given a ticker tape parade through New York's Canyon of Heroes today. Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHEERS)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's amazing to see the women's game just come out on top immediately. I just love them with all my heart, they are my heroes.

(CHEERS)

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've got 22 of the best bestest friends right behind me.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is America's team.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: They are the GOAT, no question about that.

Thanks for watching “Special Report.” I'm John Roberts in Washington.

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