Years working with Acosta, Trump’s Labor pick, prove his integrity

When I was a career prosecutor for the Department of Justice, I saw, absorbed and witnessed a lot. I also developed the ability to sift fact from fiction. That skill is crucial when we are talking about keeping our communities and our nation safe from harm.

I would like to use what I learned during my time as a prosecutor to weigh in on the nomination of Alex Acosta, my boss for four years as the U.S. Attorney in South Florida, and now pending before the Senate for his fourth possible confirmation, this time as Secretary of Labor. I have begun to read things about Alex that are fiction, not fact, and I’m honored to be able to set the record straight.

{mosads}Alex proved to be one of the most successful U.S. Attorneys that our incredibly busy office had known. He was smart, not only in the academic sense, but in his management style. He knew a lot, but importantly acknowledged what he did not know, and relied on longtime career prosecutors to appropriately advise him.

His selection of senior staff was apolitical and non-ideological; rather, he selected prosecutors in the office with excellent judgment. He walked the halls, asking line prosecutors like me how things were going and what we needed; and he had our backs, particularly when defense attorneys sought appeal of our judgment or charging decisions.

Some of us were skeptical about him when he started. He was coming from Washington, had been a political appointee at headquarters, and his start hadn’t been as a prosecutor. We worried that our office — with its reputation for independence, aggressiveness, and fairness — could be weakened. We were wrong, on all counts.

Alex was incredibly supportive of the line prosecutors in the office, and appropriately took an interest in our cases. One of mine at the time was a high-profile drug case against Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez-Orejuela, two of the founders of the infamous Cali cartel. After long negotiations and court hearings, we entered a tough plea agreement, obtaining the maximum sentence sustainable. Throughout the negotiations, Alex was available and steadfast, continually engaged to make a call or suggest a tactic to get us to the finish line, which we ultimately did.

I also worked a number of public corruption investigations against high-level local officials, of both major parties. Alex was always supportive, always appropriately aggressive, and always determined for the office to get to the truth and do what the evidence and the law required.

When we told him that we were planning to charge the sitting Sheriff of Broward County, one of the most powerful political figures in South Florida, Alex didn’t hesitate. He had us lay out the evidence for him, explain why we charged as we did, and once persuaded never wavered. Questions of the press reaction, effect on local politics, or whether there would be political retaliation was never asked or considered. He played it straight, and tough.

I am no expert on issues of the Department of Labor, nor do I know Alex’s views on those issues. What I do know, though, is that Alex is a man of integrity and sound judgment. Someone who supports his troops, thinks through the hard issues with the advice of others, and uses his excellent judgment to make tough decisions and see them through.

I was proud to have been able to serve under this dedicated, talented, tough and supportive US Attorney. He is a good man, with integrity and judgment. I fully expect that upon his confirmation to this next position we will see more of the same.

Matt Axelrod served as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice and is now a Partner at Linklaters.

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