Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, January 5, 2024
“Law & Order” narrator: “In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime; and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.”
Dun-dun.
In 2006, the FBI under Director Robert Mueller took over the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged abuse of thirty-six underage girls.
In 2008, following the FBI’s investigation, U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta signed a non-prosecution deal, termed “controversial” by Wikipedia, under which Epstein pleaded guilty to only one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in jail, a year of community service, and registered as a sex offender. He was sentenced in June 2008 and was released from prison in July 2009.
Long after departing from the FBI, Mueller was named special prosecutor for the investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion. The investigation found no evidence of collusion.
While Mueller was investigating President Donald Trump, legacy media went to great lengths to insist that Mueller had nothing to do with the Epstein plea agreement.
A July 9, 2019 fact check by The Associated Press was headlined: “Mueller didn’t strike plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein”.
The AP wrote:
CLAIM: The FBI, under Robert Mueller, let billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein off with a weak plea deal after dozens of young girls accused him of sexual assault.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Former Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta — not the FBI or Mueller — signed a 2008 non-prosecution deal with Epstein, while he was under investigation for sexually abusing at least 40 girls in Florida and New York.
THE FACTS: Tweets and Facebook posts wrongly fault Mueller, the director of the FBI at the time, for a 2008 secret plea agreement that saved Epstein from a 53-page indictment that carried hefty criminal penalties.
Media Matters insisted, also on July 9, 2019, that tying Mueller to Epstein’s sweet plea deal was a “far-right conspiracy theory.”
Media Matters wrote: “A baseless conspiracy theory that claims Robert Mueller helped facilitate disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s 2008 non-prosecution agreement was pushed by far-right conspiracy theorists before making the jump to Fox News.”
Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk wrote on Twitter at the time: “Did you know: The FBI, under Robert Mueller, let child predator Jeffrey Epstein off with a weak plea deal. Dozens of young girls accused him of assaulting them. Maybe Mueller should have gone after Epstein as hard as he went after our President.”
Media Matters claimed that Kirk “falsely connected Mueller to Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement.”
So the AP and Media Matters are saying that the Mueller-led FBI’s investigation had no impact whatsoever on the deal prosecutors offered Epstein?
We report, you decide.
Publishers and Citizen Journalists: Start your Engines
After FBI under Mueller took over 2005 Epstein investigation, charges by underage accusers were dropped added by Editor Two on
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