Barr Will NOT Recuse Himself In Epstein Case!

Bill Barr's decision not to recuse himself from the charges was guided by the counseling of career guidance officals and decided very carefully after weighing the facts.

That's more than can be said of Alexander Acosta, the Labor Secretary who was assigned to handle the Epstein case despite approving Epstein's 2007 plea deal in Florida! 

CBS News has more details:

Attorney General William Barr will not recuse himself from the federal sex trafficking case brought against billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in the Southern District of New York, CBS News confirms. The attorney general consulted with career ethics officials at the Justice Department before deciding not to recuse himself. 

However, because of his prior association with the firm Kirkland and Ellis, the attorney general will continue to be recused from any review of the previous federal case against Epstein in Florida. He said in South Carolina Monday, "I am recused from that matter because one of the law firms that represented Epstein long ago was a firm I subsequently joined for a period of time."

Epstein, now 66 years old, was first accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls in Florida in 2007, but he escaped federal prosecution by making a secret deal to plead guilty to state charges for soliciting prostitution. Kirkland and Ellis partner Jay Lefkowitz was on the legal team representing Epstein in the case, and Alexander Acosta, who was a U.S. attorney in Miami at the time but now serves as labor secretary under President Trump, was charged with prosecuting the case. 

Bloomberg also had the following to say:

Attorney General William Barr won’t recuse himself from involvement in the new charges filed against alleged sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein by federal prosecutors in New York, according to a Justice Department official.

Barr made the decision on Tuesday after consulting with career ethics officials at the department, said the official, who asked not to be identified discussing a sensitive matter.

Barr weighed whether he would have to remove himself from involvement in the case in part because Epstein had previously hired lawyers from the law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Barr served as counsel to the law firm before becoming attorney general.

                                

But Barr has recused himself from any retrospective review of the Justice Department’s decision more than a decade ago letting Epstein avoid prosecution on federal sex-trafficking offenses in Florida and the decades of prison time that he could have faced if convicted.

                

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta was the top federal prosecutor in southern Florida and approved the widely criticized deal under which Epstein was permitted to plead guilty to two state charges of soliciting a prostitute. He served 13 months in a Florida state prison while being released during the day to conduct business.

Some former federal prosecutors have expressed concern that Barr might interfere in the New York case if he didn’t recuse himself. 

                

While President Donald Trump socialized with Epstein in the past and once called him “a terrific guy,” the president told reporters at the White House Tuesday that he had a falling out with the financier and hasn’t spoken with him in about 15 years. “I was not a fan of his,” he said.