NEW: Trump Labor Secretary Acosta Resigns Amid Epstein Teen Sex Abuse Scandal

NEW: Trump Labor Secretary Acosta Resigns Amid Epstein Teen Sex Abuse Scandal

United States Labor Secretary Alex Acosta is resigning following controversy over how he handled a sex crimes case against businessman Jeffrey Epstein when he was U.S. attorney for southern Florida.

Federal prosecutors this week unsealed the new charges against billionaire Epstein on Monday, who is accused of running a sex-trafficking operation that lured dozens of underage girls, some as young as 14, to his Upper East Side home and to a mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., according to an indictment.

READ: 14 Page Federal Indictment Against Epstein

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According to CNBC, Acosta made the announcement Friday morning while standing next to President Donald Trump outside the White House. Trump said that Acosta had called him Friday morning, and that it was Acosta’s decision to quit.

CNBC reports:

His resignation came two days after Acosta gave a press conference in which he had defended a controversial non-prosecution agreement he had cut with Epstein’s lawyers in 2007, when he was the top prosecutor in Miami.

The issue resurfaced on July 6, when the politically connected Epstein, whose friends have included Trump and former President Bill Clinton, was arrested on sex trafficking charges by federal prosecutors in New York last week.

Epstein had long been under investigation by both federal and local law enforcement for sex crimes against underage girls that took place from 2002 to 2005 in New York and Florida.

Acosta, as U.S. attorney for southern Florida, struck a secret plea deal with Epstein allowing him to avoid federal prosecution on similar charges more than a decade earlier.