WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ohio’s two U.S. senators are at odds over what, if anything, should happen to Department of Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta in the wake of new sex trafficking charges leveled against financier Jeffrey Epstein.

“Secretary Acosta should resign,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in an interview with Spectrum News on Tuesday.

“He should resign for a lot of reasons,” added Brown. “First, a dereliction of duty on just an outrageous, outrageous behavior of the justice system in Florida where he was in charge as the U.S. attorney. He should resign because part of the job as labor secretary is to enforce some of the provisions on sex trafficking. You’ve got a guy that enabled one of the alleged worst sex traffickers that we know of in the country, who enabled that, who’s now in charge, in part, of enforcing laws against sex trafficking. He should resign.”

Epstein was charged by the Southern District of New York on Monday with sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls. Throughout the years, the billionaire has mingled with politicians from both parties.

Back in 2008, Acosta was a U.S. attorney in Florida who played a role in helping Epstein reach a lenient plea deal for soliciting prostitution. But a judge found earlier this year that the prosecutors, including Acosta, broke the law by failing to tell Epstein’s alleged victims about the deal.

Brown voted against Acosta’s nomination for labor secretary in 2017. Portman voted for Acosta.

On Monday evening, Spectrum Washington reporter Taylor Popielarz caught up with Portman in a Capitol Hill hallway that doesn’t allow cameras.

“With the new Jeffrey Epstein developments, do you think Secretary Acosta should resign?” asked Popielarz, in an audio recording.

“Oh, I don’t know,” replied Portman. “I have never researched that issue to figure out what his role was.”

Congressman and presidential candidate Tim Ryan (D-13) is also calling for Acosta to resign.

In three tweets sent out Tuesday, Acosta defended himself:

“The crimes committed by Epstein are horrific, and I am pleased that NY prosecutors are moving forward with a case based on new evidence. With the evidence available more than a decade ago, federal prosecutors insisted that Epstein go to jail, register as a sex offender and put the world on notice that he was a sexual predator. Now that new evidence and additional testimony is available, the NY prosecution offers an important opportunity to more fully bring him to justice.”

Speaking from the White House on Tuesday, President Trump said he felt “very badly” for Acosta.

“What I do know is that he's been a really great secretary of labor,” said Trump. “The rest of it, we'll have to look at, we'll have to look at it very carefully. But you're talking about a long time ago and it was a decision made I think not by him but by a lot of people. So we're gonna look at it very carefully.”