Acosta leaves after heightenedscrutiny of his handling of sexual misconduct charges againstJeffrey Epstein following the announcement of the financier'sindictment.

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta said Friday he would resign in asurprise appearance with President Donald Trump.

“I thought the right thing was to step aside,” Acosta toldreporters at the White House. “It would be selfish for me to stayin this position.”

Acosta leaves after heightened scrutiny of his handling ofsexual misconduct charges against Jeffrey Epstein following theannouncement of the financier's indictment on Monday. As the topfederal prosecutor in Florida in 2007 and 2008, Acosta signed offon a lenient plea deal with Epstein that allowed him to resolve theearlier charges by serving 13 months in a county jail andregistering as a sex offender.

Related: Acosta defends role as U.S attorney in Epsteincase

Acosta said Wednesday in a news conference that Epstein wouldhave escaped jail time altogether had his office not been involvedin the case. But he was criticized by some Democrats for notoffering an apology to Epstein's victims, who didn't know about theplea deal while it was being negotiated.

“In so many ways I hate what he's saying now because we're goingto miss him,” Trump said. He said he had told Acosta he didn't haveto resign.

Trump also further distanced himself from Epstein, a formerassociate who has a home in Palm Beach, where the president'sMar-a-Lago resort is located. Trump said he had a falling-out withEpstein but declined to explain the circumstances — “the reasondoesn't make any difference,” he said — and repeated that he hasn'tspoken to Epstein in 15 years.

The president said he'd thrown Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago andthat he had never visited Epstein's Little St. James Island in theCaribbean, a place that locals call “Pedophile Island” and “OrgyIsland.”

Trump said Acosta's deputy, Patrick Pizzella, will become actingsecretary of the Labor Department. Pizzella is regarded byDemocrats and labor unions as more aggressively pro-business thanAcosta. He previously worked with notorious lobbyist Jack Abramoffto try to shield a tiny cluster of Pacific Islands from federallabor and immigration laws.

Abramoff was the subject of one of the largest congressionallobbying scandals in recent history and was sentenced to federalprison after pleading guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracyto bribe public officials.

Read more: 

• Judge: Alex Acosta broke the law by giving JeffreyEpstein a sweetheart deal
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