Alex Acosta, the one Latino in Donald Trump’s cabinet, is under fire and is fighting to keep his job.
Today he gave a press conference at the Labor Department and refused to resign, saying Trump has his back (https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/10/alex-acosta-press-conference-epstein-1405759).
Your solitary reporter’s first real job was as an attorney in the U S Department of Labor; he left that goverment service during the final year of President Carter’s presidency.
But he has continued to follow, remotely, what goes on there, so Acosta’s situation is of keen interest to us here at AP.
Acosta is surely vain, but he never reads Vanity Fair, which has a damning piece about the connections between Trump and his friend Jeff Epstein, the criminal defendant in south Florida to whom Acosta gave a sweet sweetheart deal that’s gotten him into such hot water recently (https://apple.news/Awefdq1DmSzCEGW6gern3VQ).
Immediately after the Secretary left the rabid crowd of inquisitive reporters, the solitary reporter accosted Acosta. The Labor Secretary has gotten himself deep in the crosshairs of Trump’s chief lackey, Mick Mulvaney (https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/09/mulvaney-trump-dump-acosta-outrage-1404188).
“Sir,” the solitary reporter began, "isn’t it true that Trump would rather you go to Cuba, the place your parents fled from, instead of staying here in Washington, where you will continue to be under the harsh scrutiny of Democratic legislators?”
“SR, it’s even worse than that,” Acosta replied. “Mulvaney’s already secretly booked me on a direct flight to Gitmo, where he wants me to stay, even beyond January 20, 2021, when the Democrats will take over the White House."