Rsue citizenship data in other ways, next. Announcer this is Washington Week. Funding is provided by kevin. Kevin. Kevin. Advice for life. Life well planned. Learn more at raymondjames. Com. Babel, a real lif Program Teaching new languages such as and h, french, italian more. Babbels 10 to 15 minute lessons are available as an app or online. Abbel. Com. Ation on additional funding provided by ku and Patricia Yuen committed to bridging cultural differences in our. Communiti the corporation for public broadcasting and byti contris to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. No cer once again, from washington, moderator rost costa. Robert labor secretary alex acosta long hovered under the radar in President Trumps washington. But a plea deal he brokered for Jeffrey Epstein has cast a shadow over him. And this week it effectively forced him out folwing developments that brought up tough questions about his julment. Fede prosecutors in new york charged epstein on monday with new ses. Cri acostas critics say he was too soft on epstein ae deco. Acosta defended himself. This was the view of the office. There is a value to a sure guilty plea because letting him walk, letting what the state attorney was ready to do g forward would have been absolutely a robert but the firestorm did not fade. And acosta submitted his resignation to the president on friday. It would be selfish for me to stay in this position and continue talking about a case thats 12 years old rather than about the amazing economy we have right now. And so iy submitted m resignation to the president effective seven days from today. I just wan to let you know, this was him not me because im with him. J ning me tonight, paula reid washington correspondent for cbs news. Philip rucker, White House Bureau chief for the washington post. Kimberly atkins senior wearble correspondent for wbur, bostons m. P. R news station. And jerry sibe, executive editor for the wall street journal. Paula, youve been new york prosecutors. Why did they debtmeide to back on the epstein case a decade lateer . What prompd this actio over last weekend . Some great reporting by the miami thed. Miami her they started digging into these allegations once again and they uncovered this 20072008 that had been brokered by u. S. Attorney acoa to help resolve these allegations of misconduct with young women. He got just 13 months. Poey were sd to give him immunity from federal charges. Earlier this year, a federal judge found that this violated the victims rights because they did no disclosee victims that they were negotiating this plea deal. We saw earlier this week, these new charges and allegations. These occurred between 2002 and 2005. Robert and many of acostas critics sayehe deal h struck in 2008 was too soft that could have went for acosta said he did what he could but the state prosecutors wouldnd move far enough. Did his argument hold up . The explanation left a lot of folks like me scratching their heads. It was a fal he said he could have either allowed him to walk free under state prosecution o negotiate this deal which is the only deal that he could negotiateab which lutely isnt true. As prosecutor he had discretion for that. He could have at the very least ed the victims but the fact that he didnt led to this entire controversy that he was entirely too soft. Given whae see now is the severity of the charges. I mean, this is really, really horrific trafficking of people unr age and that he got 13 months is really remarkable. Robert lets go over the charges. On monday, federal prosecutors indicted him on new. Charg one count of sexng trafficn minors. Epstein pleaded not guilty. Epstein and a friend were running a vas network of urgedage girl for sex some a s under age girls for sex under 18. They knew they were under 18. Im so glad we hav two attorneys and phil rucker. President trump was watching the. What did take away and why did epstein end up resigning . Excuse me, whyid acosta resign . The performance was not the kind of performance we use to from people when theyre trying to please the president. He lacked he lacked indignation. Youll remember when brett i kavanaug his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court defended himself, he did so with a lot of vigor and passion and indignation and anger and trump really liked that. Ru i think wasnt sure what to make of acostas performance. Started askingt around and f forward to friday and acostas out. Robert he alsoid not apologize to the victims, jerry . I think the way t victi were treated may have been the biggest part of it, at least the Public Relations problem even the legal problem not telling the victim what is you were doing struck a lot of people kind of the worst of the sins that were com down in florida. But i think the backdrop of this thats important tbeo rem is that this is just continuing turnover within the trump administration, remarkable level of turnover. Nine cabinet secretaries have resigned. We have an administration that have a not permanent chief of staff, u. N. Secretary, head of theustom enforcements those are temporary, not permanent people. It is aot of turnover. Its administration on autopilot. The white house will blame the senate for not confirming people but thats no the core o the problem. Robert phil mentioned how President Trump was watchingac tas performance. The president wanted to distance himself from the relationshipfr with j epstein he had in palm beach decades ago in the a 1990 the maralago club. Paula asked President Trump nabout that relationship the oval office earlier this week. Lets see that. Mr. President ok. Anybody else. Do you thi he is terrific guy . I knew him like everybody in palm beach knew him. People in palm beach knew him. He was a fixture in palm beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I dont think ive spoken for him for 15 years. I wod say maybe 15 years. I was not a fan of his. That i can tell y n. I w a fan of his. Robert the president s words not a fan. But what is the real history here . Back in 2002, for a profile, the president was quoted as saying he thought epstein was a ific guy and the two had been friends for 15 years. The president noted that they shared a taste for beautiful women. But he even noted in that article that epstein tend like them on the younger side. Its interesting here earlier this week, deah, it really like the guy. We had a falling out. But whats so strange ishat he would not answer earlier this week what that falling out was about. So earlier today at the white house when he had his press availability, i h press again. He said it doesnt matter. I said it does matter. Was this a business dispute was this about his abuse of underage girls . He cfirmed a story thatas been out there that he threw him out of malago after there were complaints on young women. Robert you have a white house that says ts issues now dead because secretary acosta is going away. Also ay president clinton knew epstein. He said, president clintonnows nothing about these terrible crimes that Jeffrey Epstein pleaded glt in florida some years ago. Clinton has not spoken to epstein in well other a decade thats what conservatives and republicans are saying. Does this issue go away for President Trump . T dontnk the issue goes away until he offersr a ful accounting with epstein. Epsteins behavior wit himas been an open secret in palm beach for years. We need to try to know what did trump know . When did he know it . Did he know that epstein was did hese younger stpwhim he do anything about it . Could he have witnessed some of this behavior . Did it happened at his club . He will continue to face these questions until he answers them. Robert is the character question a factor . We are in the me too era, right . These questions have particular resonance. These questions are not inescapable. Theres going to do be an a court proceedings. It is going o be in full display in new york for some time to come. Jerry brought up how there are so many acting secretaries inside of this argument. You have patrick pazella. Was secretary acosta facing presre from conservatives . Absolutely. When i was talking to republicans on the hill this week, their number one complaint was about the j that acosta was doing not necessarily his treatment of this case at the time. They believe he was not rolling back regulatory efforts fast enough, the obama regulations with the speed and gusto that President Trump wanhed. And wanted him out already. So the treasure that built up, it was actually a concern that donald trump wanting to fight the democrats call for his resignation might keep in his f nger, but all of those things seem to converge anderhe lacklu defense of himself seemed unten b. And it s coming to the from the business community. Fiduciary duty,ul rions involving workplace rules, just wanting to be usre proess. To be fair to secretary acosta, hist argumas if you dont do these things carefully youll find that they get rolled back in the court. His argument was do it slowly but do it right. Bert one last thing on the d. O. J. Front, where is robert ndellers testimony s is that on . Is that off. He was supposed to come last week. Ts in the air. Hes expected to come on wednesday but there were someer co that his testimony would be limited to only senior membersusf the committee be of the time restrictions. Some of the younger members wanted to have an opportunity to have the special council question. Rt mueller is open to this. But its not clear if it will be pushed to the following week. Robert the stm officially t for jul 24th. We got some breaking news on that. With congress on and the d. O. J. You never want to say its set e in s lets turn to the census because President Trump backed off his battle to i cnsert aizenship question for next year. He ordered a sweep of all federal data bases for exiting existing censu this comes after the administration is ready to deportee thisnd. We must have a reliable count of how many citizens, noncitizens and ill leemliens are in our country. Robert ne attorney l bill barr suggested that having more information about noncitizens is essential for districting. There a current dispute whether illegal aliens can be included for apportionment purposes. Depending on that, this data may be relevant to those considerations. We will be studyin this issue robert opponents argue the legal battle and public debate could have a chillingffect on undocumented immigrants who could be afraid to participa in the census. Phil, the administration wanted to take this hard line on immigration uses the census as a way to insert a Citizenship Question. Did the Supreme Court force their hand to back off . They did. I mean, the Supreme Courts the highest court on the land and had a ruling that the administration u concluded they had tofollow. President trumps instinct was to dig in and fight on ts and thats because he saw political advantage. Hehought his conservative base would want to see him fighting for the Citizenship Question. It polls very well with republicans and with conservatives. And its a very sort of simple issue for folks who support trump to rally behind. And he thought this wg galvanizis supporters but there was not a legal path for the administration to put the question on the census either by executive order or to challenge it in the courts. Ultimately tmp gave up. This is a ccession on the part of the administration. Robert experts say that maps based only on the citizen operation would reflect more white and less diverse. And the administration say theyre moving in that direion. It wld make it more republican. It would trip democrats of powar d embolden republican districts. P to now cisely why u all residents have been considered when drawing maps because think about it, af things are based on this not ut t the congressional maps b also federal funding and people who are in the country. Were talking people who also have visas who can be in the country legally. They are using the services. They are just as much of the people in that in the district as everybody else. So to deny funding to them would only hurt everyone in those districts. Andenhats the argt of democrats. But phil is exactly right. This was an immigration fight. The president sees immigration as the key issue f ior hn 2020 to get reelected and to please his base. And he is going to bang that drum any way he can. Robert what doou make of the attorney general play here ingratulations the president . He had some troub the courts with d. O. J. Lawyers earlier in the week. Whats next for bill barr . I wouldnd even pretend to guess he has truly surprise me. You get a sense of why he took this job. A sense of duty. He has an eansive view of executive power. But he has been a surprise. The Supreme Court said youre not going to g a Citizenship Question on the census. R d. C. R was look barr was still looking for options. We pressed the president on this. He suggested loan applications. Were going to be one trove of information from the federal government. Bu,t again, yesilliam barr also saying that it was rampant speculation that there was going to be an exerdtive. The president said he was considering an executive order. Don think we should lose sight of the fact that this country ntry to the he c edge of a very big debate which is how do you apportion congressional districts . Is it persons or eligible voters or citizens . Thats a huge question. Its never been decided by the Supreme Court in the rueling ruling the Court Justice that question here. Thats got to come at anoer time. When we get to that point, thats going to be an explosive debate in ts country. Robert lets talkability the latest report. We got a pool report from josh dawesy. Hesit Vice President pence down in texas at the mcallen border station. He saw hundreds o men, phil in cagelike atmosphere down in texas. He was brought in as the pull reporter. He captured images that if you go to his twitter account youll see and its ricochetingnline as to a real glimpse that its a crisis. How is thisdministration handling it . Yeah, so this was a tour that the Vice President along with republican members of congress were taking in texas and the conditions that dawesy describ were truly horrific. These people were men, all of themyen nea 400 piled into a cage. Theres not even enough room on the flooror cots. The stench in the room very bad. Very hot. Sweltering heat. No airconditioning. This isooing t ricochet for the president. Because the president has maintained that the conditions in these facilities are good. And better than what these immigrants have come from in their home countries. And here his own Vice President is doing a tour, which you would think thed a the Administration Officials would present them as clean. Heres Vice President pence. Sa i knew we would see a system that was overwhelmed. Yeah, iha mean, saying you expected an overwhelmed system and calling o democrats to send more funding there. I dont think is a its going to wor as an adequate response from this administration to ese pictures. I mean, they are literally people in cages some of whom who havent been able to bathe in over a week. They say in realtime these folke denying claims that they were getting three meals a day and getting access to hygiene. Thats going to be a really, really tough imagine to rebut. You have the Vice President in texas. You have ice raids scheduledo art this weekend. Whos being targeted . They have been ordered deported some because of their failure to appear in court and in at least 10 cities are going to be involved in raids you have t pictures from the report. And the ice raids starting this weekend. What does this mean for congress . Ell, look, theres a short term and longterm answer. People are going to respond to this kind of picture of the condition on the borde and democrats and republicans alike and want to do something about it. And tts, ihink, is going to be a bipartisan impulse. I dont think anybody is going to sayo. Theres a huge issue in the 2020 campaign. Its just going to get bigger and bigger. Robert and theres a real debate how to respond to the raids and all this. Lawmakers testified about the conditions at migrant detention centers. This is a manufactured crisis because there is no need for us to do this. Theres no need for us to overcrowd and to detai and underresourc ins no reason to arrest innocent people and treat them no different when they are pursuing their basic mue han rights. Robert ocasiocortez is saying that they should not dealith the president on immigration. You have a speaker of the house that has clashed with ocasiocortez about strategy f the democratic party. Where does it go . At some point they do need to come together and resolve the issue of asylum. They need to dece how you can seek asylum in the u. S. And you if if you have theses large num how do you care for them . Do you want to keep Families Together . They do have to come together and decide on how to proceed th our asylum laws and how to care for people in this country. The president argues that democrats arent doingto enough. E blunt, the system is not designed to hold this many. Peop it is true that our Law Enforcement officials along the border they are not nurse they are not trained to care for people in this in this lar volume. What do you make of the speak theyre what do you make of the speaker this week . S shetting this pressure from the left. Shes getting a lot of pressure from the left. And another issue that shes feeling heat on is the question of impeachment and what to do about trump after the Mueller Report because shes been trying to delay any sort of decision about impeachment proceedings and increasingly her caucus her membership in the house is frustratedtend agi and they want to see some actions. One of theue i here is dont mess with nancy. Shes tough. People in her caucus know that. Conservative who is dealt with her over the years know that as well. And i i think she is basically trying to guide our caucus dow a center path because shes got to worry not just about a. O. C. And members from blue districts, shes got to worry about members 31f them who won in 21 districts that donald trump carried in the 2016 president ial election. Shes got a broader caucus ocasioctez realizes. He robert have a twitter following and she said i he power. When asked if she regretted her comments about her house votes . She said no regrets. S doesnt do regrets. That was a little trumpian coming from her. I think, all those things wereu she also has the problem that not just these four lawmakers want to see thingsone, not just in their districts but when it comes to things like the situatio at the border. Phil is absolutely right about the growing nuer of people including her ally who are aslling for impeachment proceedings at to begin. I think at some point theyre going to have to move forward and tha j she cantt hold the line. Robert where does it move . Is it toward an alum deal o toward impeachment . Do the democrats say enough of this t res a push toward impeachment. Endar is nk the c running out. You cant start an impeachment proceedings before an Election Year . No, you shounled. Voters want answers on immigration and infrastructure. O shes tryin steer people away from that. Further more as Robert Muellers eventual testimony will show its not clear that they haveie suff case, this question of obstruction was ambiguous. Is in the case you want to go on or see what happens in the southernistrict of new york and other questions on loan fraud and mbe if hes reelected then pursue that issue. Robert does the hard line continue when the images that we seewiromer, from dawesy and others at the border today . Does p thisl the administration back or is it raids ad Everything Else . I dont think so. Weve had a number of moments where were sn true kind of human horror at the border and the president has not reacted with empathy and not changed his policy. Robert well keep traoring that and many others. Thanks for being here. Well have msh on the Washington Week ex we have more on the Washington Week extra. Im robert costa. Have a great weekend. [captioning rformed by the tional captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer Corporate Funding for Washington Week, is provided by babbel, a Language Program that teach real life conversations in a null language such as spanish, french, german, italian and more. Babbels 10 to 15 minute lessons are available as anr app o online. More information on babbel. Com. Financial services firm, raymond james. Additional funding ivi pd by ku and Patricia Yuen, through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, the corporate for public b broadcasting a contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Welcome back to the tent. T. We are at the quarter final stage, and with only 5 bakers left standing, who are mary and paul gonna pick off next . Theyre like the velociraptors of the baking world. Dddllll rrrlll mel last timee bakers e for perfect pastry. Nancy come on, past mel richard excelled at eclairs. Great pastry. Thank you. Winning star baker for the third time. Others didnt fare so well. This is awful. Ow looks a little bit ssy. Yeah. Mel and kate became the seventh baker to leave the tent. Now the 5 remaining bakers must impress pa with fruity signatures. He just does that to scare me. Achieve the perfect coiled loaf in a tortuous technical. Its a funnylooking thing. And conjup 36 mouthwatering doughnuts. Curtain ring. Who has the skill to stay the course . Mary i think youve cracked it