Patrick Pizzella testifies before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions during his nominations hearing to be deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor, on July 13, 2017. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
A former Preston Gates government affairs counselor will serve as the acting labor secretary in the wake of Alexander Acosta's resignation, President Donald Trump announced Friday.
Patrick Pizzella, Acosta's deputy, was confirmed to serve as deputy labor secretary in April 2018, and previously served as a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority under President Barack Obama.
Pizzella worked for then-named Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds from 1996 to 2001, and has drawn criticism for his ties to Jack Abramoff, a high-profile lobbyist who served four years in prison after pleading guilty to bribing government officials. Pizzella also did a two-year stint as director of coalitions at Preston Gates, which later merged with Kilpatrick & Lockhart to become K&L Gates in 2007.
He will take over the acting role from Acosta, who has faced increased scrutiny over his handling of a decade-old investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, who was indicted this week on federal child sex trafficking and conspiracy charges in New York.
Trump told reporters that Acosta made the decision to resign, and that he was not pushed out of the administration. “This was him, not me,” Trump said.
Speaking outside the White House, Trump called Acosta a “tremendous talent,” saying he had been a “great labor secretary, not a good one.”
Epstein's arrest last weekend on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges in New York has sparked increase scrutiny over a secret agreement Acosta reached a decade ago with Epstein's lawyers, which shielded the wealthy financier and his alleged accomplices from federal prosecution in a case alleging they ran a child sex ring out of Epstein's Palm Beach mansion between 1999 and 2007.
In exchange for the deal, Epstein pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges in state court, and served 13 months in a Palm Beach County jail, where he had work-release privileges and was allowed to continue managing money during the day. Epstein faced a possible life sentence, and his alleged co-conspirators were never charged.
Earlier this year, a Florida federal judge ruled that Acosta and other prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami at the time broke a federal law by keeping the agreement secret from Epstein's victims. The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the prosecutor's handling of the deal after a series of articles by the Miami Herald drew renewed attention to the case.
Acosta addressed the controversy at a press conference earlier this week, in which he defended his handling of the case. Acosta described Epstein's actions as “despicable” and said Epstein likely would not have served any jail time if not for the plea deal. He did not offer an apology to Epstein's victims.
On Friday, Trump said that Acosta “made a deal that people were happy with and then 12 years later, they're not happy with it.”
“You'll have to figure all of that out,” he told reporters. “The fact is, he has been a fantastic secretary of labor.”
Read Acosta's resignation letter:
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Tom McParland
Tom McParland of New York Law Journal can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TMcParlandALM.
