Jul 12, 2019 - Politics & Policy

Alex Acosta resigns as Trump's labor secretary

Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta announced Friday that he will resign next week during an appearance with President Trump at the White House.

The big picture: Acosta has faced scrutiny over his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case during his tenure as a federal prosecutor in Florida. Trump said that Acosta had done a "very good job" at the Labor Department.

As Axios' Jonathan Swan reported, Trump had been mulling Acosta's departure after his press conference defending his decisions during the Epstein case earlier this week.

  • Many conservatives inside the administration didn't view Acosta as one of them. Senior officials, including Trump's acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, had been frustrated with Acosta for moving too slowly and softly on deregulation.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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