Thread by @EdOverbeek

If you haven't read this series yet, you should. It's disturbing as hell and raises so many important issues. I can't do them all justice. I'm just going to pull on one thread about Donald Trump and his Labor Secretary.
miamiherald.com/news/local/art…

Brief background: When Secretary Acosta was a US attorney in Miami, he took on a case against serial molestor/billionaire Jeff Epstein. Palm Breach police had uncovered dozens and dozens of teenage girls Epstein was molesting. At the last minute, Acosta cut Epstein a deal.

The deal was unusual in a lot of ways. And by unusual I mean a completely f'd up travesty. Almost complete deference to the billionaire criminal, and zero respect or concern for his underage victims.

Here's the part I want to focus on. I can't put into words how infuriating this is.

It's even worse than that. It didn't just shut down the investigation into to whether there were more accomplices - it granted any such people immunity. Along with immunity for his 4 known accomplices.

This worry that other accomplices were let off the hook isn't just hypothetical. Epstein was said to have "lent out" his victims to other men. One victim states he collected blackmail on these men.

As you probably know, Trump is a longtime friend of Epstein's. Good chance you've seen this quote. I'm going to suspend any willful naiveté and say Trump clearly knew Epstein was into underage girls.

Trump obviously has a record of saying *and doing* creepy things about underage girls himself. Walking into teenagers' dressing rooms. Hitting on his daughter. WTF. If you're not feeling queasy yet, just read this.
vox.com/identities/201…

Then there's the fact he and Epstein were accused of rape by a woman (girl at the time) who withdrew the case due to death threats. She had a corroborating witness, by the way.
newsweek.com/donald-trump-r…

All of this is to say there's a very non-zero chance Trump was an accomplice, and personally benefitted from the immunity provision in Acosta's deal.

I have no proof, but I'm not going to say it sounds remotely out of character for him.

And this means there's a very non-zero chance Trump picked Acosta because Acosta kept him out of jail and protected his reputation. That he felt some sort of bond with Acosta over it, or knew Acosta was corrupt.

It's true, that's just speculation. This isn't: Acosta wasn't just a random DC-connected lawyer to Trump. He was the guy who let Trump's friend escape justice. His appointment is inextricably linked with letting Epstein skate.

I urge you to read the whole series. It shines a lot of light on who our legal system works for and who it doesn’t. Its a must-read even without its connections to the serial sexual predator in the White House.
miamiherald.com/news/local/art…