Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) claimed former President Barack Obama oversaw disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s 2008 plea deal when Epstein first came into legal trouble under former President George W. Bush.
“In 2009, there was a sweetheart plea deal that was made under the Obama administration with Epstein,” Mullin said, adding, “That sweetheart has not been exposed.”
“No, that’s not right. It was 2008. The U.S. attorney at the time was Alex Acosta. He was a Bush appointee. He went on to become President Trump’s secretary of labor,” CNN’s Jake Tapper replied on State of the Union.
Mullin continued, however, to claim incorrectly that the case was handled in 2009 under Obama.
In 2008, Epstein struck a plea deal with then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Alex Acosta, who was appointed to that role and several others in the Bush administration.
The deal allowed Epstein to avoid a harsher sentence on allegations that he sexually abused underage girls by pleading guilty to state charges in Florida. Epstein served 13 months in Palm Beach County jail and was given extensive work release during the day. He also became a registered sex offender.
Many have questioned Acosta for the lenient deal. Acosta later served in the first Trump administration before resigning from his post as secretary of labor in July 2019, when Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges, after months of scrutiny over the deal.
Mullin objected last week to an amendment in the Senate to release files related to Epstein from Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) during a floor debate. In his objection, Mullin said he was trying to “give him cover” in an apparent reference to President Donald Trump.
“I’m sure this would be handled just like any other thing that they’ve tried to go after, like the baseless impeachments or the baseless special counsels or the unbelievable amount of charges they’ve tried to file against the president. I’m sure this would be handled the exact same way. What we’re simply wanting to do here is give him cover,” Mullin said.
MAGA ANGER OVER EPSTEIN FILES GIVES TRUMP LIMITED OPTIONS TO QUELL DIVISIONS
The Trump administration has been embattled by the uproar from Trump’s voting base over its refusal to release the Epstein files.
The Justice Department and FBI released a joint memo nearly three weeks ago that said Epstein did not have a client list and that he died in jail by suicide in 2019. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino for years gave voice to conspiracies about Epstein’s death and his so-called client list.
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