fact that we re talking about rape of children. but the outcome politically is what i m talking about. to that point let s show a little bit of it in the sense that alex acosta again today standing by the president s side defending, defending, you ve seen some trump cabinet turnover there. there s an acting labor secretary. you see all these other cabinet turnover. but the idea this played out in a traditional way. many of those people on screen found out they were fired on twitter or from a hasty call by the white house chief of staff. in this case you see alex acosta standing next to the president still defending himself, still saying he thinks he made the right call 12 years ago. and then saying this is why i ve got to go. i have seen coverage of this case that is over 12 years old that has input and vetting at multiple levels at the department of justice. as i look forward, i do not think it is right and fair for
federal judge in february found should have been done. ruling that acosta broke the law. as kaitlan collins reports, the exit comes as president trump is weighing whether another top official should soon be headed to that busy trump administration departure lounge. reporter: the day at the white house began with an exit. alex called me this morning and he wanted to see me. reporter: as labor secretary alex acosta announced he will resign over the scrutiny he played in the role of jeffrey epstein plea deal that helped him avoid federal charges. i do not think it is right and fair for this administration s labor department to have epstein as the focus reporter: with acosta by his side, president trumpin sistered the decision was acosta s. this was him, not me. because i m with him. reporter: but the writing was on the wall on thursday night when cnn first reported trump had grown skeptical that the
long line of acting secretaries. keep in mind we have an active defense secretary, acting homeland security secretary, and now presumably very soon we have held will have an acting labor secretary as alex acosta steps down. holding that john roberts is there. the president hitting on a wide range of topics, but clearly, the acosta resignation is front and center, bill. bill: thank you for that. we will share that with their viewers. standby for that, but apparently, julie, based on the read out, he is a great labor secretary, not a good one. julie: well, we ve got more on this. fox news political analyst and cohost of the five, chairman of the conservative union, former member of the ohio state democrat senator, juan, i am
acosta press conference would calm the waters. today s world treats victims very, very differently. reporter: sources say president trump went from praising acosta to questioning why the victims were never notified about the plea deal. yet today he insisted otherwise. i thought alex did a great job. reporter: for trump, acosta resignation comes as a relief amid renewed scrutiny over his own relationship with epstein. today he said it wasn t a distraction. well, alex believed that. reporter: the departure leaves the president with another acting secretary in his cabinet. we have, as everybody knows, we have pat pazella who is a deputy and he ll be acting for a period of time. reporter: the acting labor secretary will be in good company because the department of defense and department of homeland security and mult pull other federal agencies are all run by acting heads. while experts say permanent
welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we begin with the politics lead. president trump on defense unloading at the white house as another cabinet secretary leaves the administration under the shadow of scandal, this time labor secretary alex acosta claiming he s leaving willingly to he is not a distraction but privately president trump was stewing over the unwanted attention to the trump administration and the president was worried about the steady stream of revelations to come involving the 2008 plea deal acosta brokers with well-connected multi-millionaire and accused child rapist jeffreyef steen. and president trump went from praising acosta to questioning why the victims had not been notified about that plea agreement ahead of time as mandated by law. and that is a key request many of us have been asking and a