Free Republic

Labor appointee was rehired after hit job was discredited Bloomberg Law finally apologized and retracted a September article that falsely accused Department of Labor appointee Leif Olson of anti-Semitism. Editor-in-Chief Cesca Antonelli told staffers she made the decision after "we spent the last few weeks reviewing our coverage and our editorial processes." The story "did not meet our editorial standards for fairness and accuracy." She did not elaborate on why the review took so long given immediate pushback from reporters and fellow attorneys. "We regret that lapse and have retracted the story," Antonelli said on Friday. "We are also strengthening...

President Trump on Thursday night announced he's nominating attorney Gene Scalia, the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to replace Alex Acosta as secretary of labor. The surprise move -- which top Republicans privately pushed for -- was a visible manifestation of the close personal bond Trump has forged with the Scalia family in recent years. The confirmation process for Justice Neil Gorsuch, who ultimately filled Scalia's seat, sparked the connection. Scalia, 55, is currently a partner in the Washington office of the international law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is expected to face headwinds from...

Alexander Acosta will step down as Labor secretary amid mounting scrutiny over his role in negotiating a plea deal for financier Jeffrey Epstein. Acosta announced his resignation Friday, saying that he phoned President Trump that morning to tell him he was stepping aside because he does not want his handling of the Epstein plea agreement to consume the administration. Acosta's support on Capitol Hill began to erode in the wake of new sex trafficking charges against Epstein in New York City. Numerous Democrats in the House and Senate had called for Acosta to resign or be fired from the Trump...

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta said Friday he will resign amid controversy over the way he handled a sex crimes case against wealthy businessman Jeffrey Epstein a decade ago when he was U.S. attorney for southern Florida.

President Trump, meeting with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani at the White House Tuesday, said his administration will look "very carefully" at Labor Secretary Alex Acosta's handling of a past case against Jeffrey Epstein, but praised Acosta's work as labor secretary.

On a muggy October morning in 2007, Miami’s top federal prosecutor, Alexander Acosta, had a breakfast appointment with a former colleague, Washington, D.C., attorney Jay Lefkowitz. It was an unusual meeting for the then-38-year-old prosecutor, a rising Republican star who had served in several White House posts before being named U.S. attorney in Miami by President George W. Bush. Instead of meeting at the prosecutor’s Miami headquarters, the two men — both with professional roots in the prestigious Washington law firm of Kirkland & Ellis — convened at the Marriott in West Palm Beach, about 70 miles away. For Lefkowitz,...

Thanks to the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the federal government clarified that it is free to work with whichever organization is best able to achieve the government’s goals, providing optimal services to those in need. The guidelines, recently issued by the DOL, explain that under current law the federal government may not discriminate against religious contractors or subcontractors. Instead, all contractors, religious and non-religious, must be permitted to compete for federal contracts on an equal playing field. A wide variety of charitable work across the country is done through government contracts with various...

In the middle of August, Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO union hierarchy, exercised expert -- and malicious -- timing to embarrass the President Donald Trump. But Trumka never would have had the opportunity without White House advisors’ assistance. Back in January, Trumka and his deputy chief of staff, Thea Lee, had happily accepted invitations from the Trump Administration to serve on the newly-established Presidential Manufacturing Council and Policy Forum. Apparently, at least some Trump advisors thought it was a good idea to solicit the advice of a man who had, just a few months before, publicly denounced the...

The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday it would expand the number of temporary visas granted this year for workers in seasonal non-agricultural industries like tourism. In a statement, DHS said Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly had consulted with Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta and determined there were not enough “qualified and willing U.S. workers” to fill the needs of businesses. “Congress gave me the discretionary authority to provide temporary relief to American businesses in danger of suffering irreparable harm due to a lack of available temporary workers,” Kelly said in a statement. “As a demonstration of the administration’s commitment...

As with much in the first weeks of the incoming Donald Trump administration, there was a last-second move to delay regulations years in the making. In this case, the Department of Labor fiduciary rule... As it stands, retirement savers lose $17 billion a year just in fees paid to advisors and funds. The vast majority of investors then fail to match the stock market indexes because of those same fees. The fiduciary rule doesn't dictate lower-cost advice. Nor does it remove expensive actively managed funds from the marketplace. Rather, it requires anyone who sells retirement advice for a living to...