MSNBC "All In with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: "Jeffrey Epstein charged with sex trafficking ."

Interview

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HAYES: That is the question that`s sort of hanging over these entire proceedings today. Mindy Marquez Gonzalez and Carol Lam, thank you both. And joining me now for more on Acosta`s connection to all this, Senator Tim Kaine Democrat of Virginia. Senator, what`s your reaction to the story today about Jeffrey Epstein?

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): Well, I am glad that it looks like Epstein might finally get justice for his victimization of so many young girls because the sweetheart deal that Secretary Acosta cut for him when he was U.S. Attorney in Miami really allowed him to evade justice. So it looks like somebody`s finally taken this case seriously. I am on the committee that interviewed at the hearing Secretary Acosta for his position. His answers about this deal did not add up then. I voted against him for that reason. And subsequent events both the federal court ruling in Miami in February and the indictment today show that Epstein is a predator and Acosta cut a secret, illegal, sweetheart, outrageous deal he shouldn`t hold the job that he currently holds. He needs to go as Secretary of Labor.

HAYES: I want to play just the exchange you had with him about the case. You asked him about it when he was nominated for the position. Take a listen to that exchange.

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KAINE: You are aware that Mr. Epstein served at 13 months, he was allowed out during the day and he had to sleep at a County Jail but he was basically allowed to move and go around the community and do whatever he wants and then that became a subject of significant criticism.

ALEX ACOSTA, SECRETARY OF LABOR, UNITED STATES: And I am on record condemning that and I think that was awful.

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HAYES: Is it your understanding that he was somehow duped in this? Like what is your understanding of the role that Secretary Acosta played in this actual deal and do you feel like you know the full story of it?

KAINE: Well, I`m not sure I know the full story, Chris, but it was clear to me at the time he was trying to downplay his responsibility for this deal and it just didn`t add up. He was the U.S. Attorney who was the key guy behind the non-prosecution agreement that led Epstein off in such an egregious way. And you know, the thing about this case that is so outrageous -- I mean, first it was illegal to not tell the victims about the deal. The federal court in Miami subsequently has found -- they took affirmative steps to hide the deal from the victims. It was outrageously light in terms of a sentence. But the thing that makes me the maddest is Acosta allowed Epstein to plead guilty to prostitution, state prostitution charges. These were not prostitutes. They were teenage sex trafficking victims that Epstein`s sex trafficked, may be assaulted, possibly raped, and yet what Acosta did was revitalized these youngsters by allowing a prostitution charge to suggest that they were prostitutes. It`s outrageous. Now, you got to note, Acosta is currently the Secretary of Labor who has enforcement responsibilities. In his past activities, he showed he would side with the powerful and throw the vulnerable under the bus. That`s the last kind of person that you need as an enforcer of the labor laws of this country.

HAYES: You know, it seems to me after that federal judge ruled the plea deal is functionally illegal right. I mean, basically, we had a non-prosecution agreement. I think there`s a Department of Justice investigation but it does seem to me and I`d like to hear your thoughts on this, there`s a lot more that needs to be filled in. Like I don`t -- I don`t think I understand exactly blow-by-blow how this deal came to be and Mr. Acosta is responsibility for it.

KAINE: Well, and I think there are more -- there`s more there. One thing we do know is that some of Secretary Acosta`s prosecutors in his office prepared a massive federal indictment, a 50-plus page indictment in Miami against Mr. Epstein and they had that there and for some reason the decision-makers in the office just shelved that and went with this state law charge. What does that matter? Well, when they -- when he agreed to plead guilty to these state charges, they filed the plea in a -- in a County Court where the victims wouldn`t know to look for it. And then he got this cushy sentence in a County Jail where he`s out during the day going back to work. So there was just -- there are more facts to get at but what I think is now undeniable is that the deal was illegal, it was kept hidden from these victims, it was outrageously light, and Secretary Acosta re-victimized these young ladies by allowing it to be a prostitution charge which is so insulting to label these teenage kids. These -- some of these kids were middle schoolers, Chris. To label these kids who were trafficked by Epstein as prostitutes, what an outrage.

HAYES: Finally, do you anticipate -- I mean, this is something he had to lightly address in his confirmation hearings. He was confirmed 52 Republicans and eight Democrats voting for him. You were not among them. Do you anticipate this is something that he is going to have to account for in some public setting whether before the House or the Senate in the near future?

KAINE: There is no way that Secretary Acosta could ever come before either he House or the Senate without having to answer more questions about this. At the hearing in question, I might have been -- I think it was just Senators Murray and I that asked him about this. We were deeply troubled by it as were most of the Democrats. But there is no way he can come back before this body, Congress, without having to ask answer a lot more tough questions about this.

HAYES: All right, Senator Tim Kaine, thank you for your time.

KAINE: Absolutely.

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