.jpg?trim=0,50,0,50&width=1200&height=800&crop=1200:800 "Newsmax star defends Alex Acosta’s sweetheart plea deal for Epstein — but ignores the network’s conflict of interest – UK Times")
Newsmax may have its own Jeffrey Epstein problem.
Over the course of the past week, its MAGA-boosting host Greg Kelly has repeatedly gone to bat for Alex Acosta, the former federal prosecutor who negotiated the secret so-called “sweetheart” plea deal with Epstein in 2008 the Justice Department later said was made in “poor judgment.”
Throughout multiple primetime segments, Kelly has described Acosta – who resigned as President Donald Trump’s Labor Secretary in 2019 amid renewed scrutiny of the Epstein plea agreement – as a “nice guy” and “great individual” who was only targeted by liberals to “embarrass” Trump by “rebooting” the Epstein story.
Kelly on Monday night suggested Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell didn’t deserve her lengthy prison sentence while claiming Acosta was the victim of “fake news” because “it wasn’t a sweetheart deal” he handed Epstein.
Left unsaid in Kelly’s efforts to rehabilitate Acosta’s reputation, amid the current uproar over the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein case, is that the former secretary now sits on the board of directors for Newsmax.
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In a press release last month that was flagged by Media Matters, the MAGA network announced Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky had been appointed to the company’s board, and joined Acosta, who had joined as a board member following the closing of the network’s initial public offering in March.
“We are delighted to officially welcome Secretary Acosta and announce the addition of Ambassador Dobriansky to our Board of Directors,” Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said at the time. “Their exceptional backgrounds in public service, regulatory policy and international affairs will provide valuable perspectives as we continue to execute our growth strategy and deliver trusted news to the American people and countries around the world.”
Besides noting Acosta’s time as Secretary of Labor during the first Trump administration, the network’s press release also highlighted his time as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, which is where he struck the controversial plea deal with Epstein.
Under the 2008 non-prosecution agreement – also known as an NPA – Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. That allowed him to avert a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work-release program. He was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender.
A Newsmax spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Kelly’s lack of disclosure about Acosta’s role with the company.
Following the DOJ’s two-page July 6 memo concluding that Epstein died by suicide and didn’t keep a “client list” to blackmail prominent figures, the administration has faced a MAGA uproar and continuing calls for the full release of the so-called Epstein files. This has also resulted in a divide within right-wing media on how to best cover the ongoing fallout.
After the president began ordering his “boys” and “gals” to stop focusing on the late sex predator because the Epstein case was a “hoax,” Fox News pulled back on its coverage. Newsmax then poked fun at what it called the “terrified” network for not wanting to “p*ss off” Trump while claiming the Murdoch-owned channel has “been essentially mandated not to talk about” Epstein.
As the network’s hosts have mocked Fox for appearing to ignore the Epstein affair, especially now the president is suing Rupert Murdoch over the Wall Street Journal’s bombshell report claiming Trump wrote a “bawdy” birthday card for Epstein, Kelly has crafted his own counter-narrative to downplay the dead sex offender’s crimes. And this has resulted in the pro-Trump anchor running a defense for the network’s board member.
Trump has strongly denied he ever wrote or drew anything for the Epstein card.
After spending the first few days of the current Epstein saga pondering whether “Epstein is a patriot” and if this was the reason Acosta negotiated a non-prosecution agreement that saw the financier serve just 13 months in jail while shutting down an FBI probe into more potential sex crimes, Kelly began suggesting Acosta was unfairly maligned.
Kelly has claimed Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald reporter whose deep-dive investigation into Epstein in 2018 and the “deal of a lifetime” he received from Acosta brought renewed interest in the case, “rebooted” the story in an effort to take down Trump.
“The Epstein story was rebooted because they wanted to embarrass the Labor Secretary,” he stated last Monday. “You remember it was anything, anything you could get on Trump.”
After saying that Epstein was “not the only one who got a sweetheart deal,” Kelly would later move the goalposts and declare that the light sentence the convicted sex offender received actually wasn’t abnormal at all.
“Alex Acosta was gone; he had to resign because that was the game the Deep State was playing,” Kelly bemoaned on Wednesday before adding: “President Trump won’t let that happen again and it’s kind of awesome to see!”
During a lengthy segment on Monday evening, Kelly spun an intricate tale that not only saw Acosta as a full-fledged victim but also suggested both Maxwell and Epstein were essentially railroaded.
“Well, that’s horrible and wrong and disgusting, but also happened a very long time ago. 2002 to 2005. This is in 2019 when he was arrested,” Kelly said, describing the DOJ’s 2019 charges against Epstein. “And if anybody actually looks at the indictment, it’s suspiciously a long time ago.”
Saying it’s “not the case” that Epstein was “running a sex operation”, Kelly then said about Maxwell’s 20-year prison sentence: “Maybe she deserves it. Maybe she doesn’t.” He then turned back towards Acosta’s role in the plea bargain and argued that he acted appropriately.
“There had to be a Trump angle. Acosta was appointed Labor Secretary by President Trump. He was in a courtroom in 2008 with Epstein,” he proclaimed. “I already went through it. It wasn’t a sweetheart deal, not compared to similar sex crimes.”
Kelly also insisted that Acosta didn’t resign “in disgrace,” asserting that Trump knew his departing secretary “was getting screwed” and that he liked that the president “showed up” for Acosta.
At the time of his resignation, Acosta defended his work as the federal prosecutor in Florida’s southern district, saying in his “heart we were trying to do the right thing for these victims” and that “we believe that we proceeded appropriately.”
In a televised appearance alongside Acosta, Trump stated that the secretary had called him and offered to resign, claiming the controversy had become a distraction for the administration. “He made a deal [with Epstein] that people are happy with, and then 12 years later, they are not happy with it. You’ll have to figure all of that out,” Trump declared, calling him a “fantastic secretary of labor.”
One network staffer told The Independent that it wasn’t shocking to see the lengths that Kelly would go to rehabilitate the image of the former Trump administration official and current Newsmax board member.
“After all, this is now the Trump network,” the staffer snarked, referencing the recent announcement that Newsmax had partnered with Trump Media & Technology Group to launch a TV streaming platform.
“Some people are very upset about partnering with Trump,” another Newsmax insider noted. “Even the most conservative people at Newsmax think it’s a terrible look and they feel like state-run media.”
