WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned from her position on Monday amid an internal misconduct probe, making her the third cabinet official to depart the Trump administration this year, sources told The Post.
Chavez-DeRemer, 58, will follow four other staffers out of the Department of Labor who were all investigated and resigned amid the Office of Inspector General’s sprawling inquiry.
Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling will replace her as acting secretary. NOTUS first reported on the secretary’s exit.
White House spokesman Steven Cheung announced minutes after the report that Chavez-DeRemer “will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector.”
“She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives,” Cheung posted on X.
Chavez-DeRemer in a statement on X said she was “looking forward to what the future has in store” and that it “has been an honor and a privilege to serve in this historic Administration and work for the greatest President of my lifetime.”
President Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March, and Attorney General Pam Bondi the following month, making her the most recent victim of the cabinet shake-up.
Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito had been expected to conclude the DOL investigation in the coming weeks, sources noted.
President Trump had already fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March, and Attorney General Pam Bondi the following month.
Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito had been expected to conclude his Labor Department investigation in the coming weeks.
The Post first exposed a whistleblower complaint filed against the labor secretary in January that alleged she drank in the office during work hours, created a hostile work environment with her top aides and was pursuing an extramarital affair with her security guard.
The complaint also claimed she committed “travel fraud” by having those aides — chief of staff Jihun Han and deputy Rebecca Wright — “make up” official trips to destinations where she could spend time with family or friends on the taxpayers’ dime.
New York Post
“While she continues to strongly dispute the allegations that have been raised, Secretary Chavez-DeRemer believes it is in the best interest of the country to allow the administration to remain fully focused on delivering results for the American people,” said her personal attorney Nick Oberheiden in a statement.
“She is grateful for the opportunity to serve and remains committed to supporting the President’s agenda moving forward.”
White House and DOL reps said that the allegations were “baseless” and “categorically false” when first reported Jan. 9.
The probe broadened over the next three months, involving dozens of staff interviews, as IG investigators gathered evidence of an alcohol “stash” in the secretary’s office and that she took subordinates to an Oregon strip club, sources said.
Accusations of taxpayer-funded travel were also corroborated, as investigators heard staff were instructed to conceal items on the secretary’s official schedule that ethics lawyers might not approve.
The initial reports prompted a parallel probe by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
Her husband, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, was also accused by female staffers of sexual assault, but prosecutors declined to bring charges in late February for the alleged incidents inside DOL headquarters in Washington, DC.
According to the DC Metropolitan Police Department report filed in late January, a female DOL staffer cited “sexual contact against her will.”
DeRemer’s attorney James Bell said his client “categorically, unequivocally, and emphatically denies each and every one of the allegations.” He was still barred from entering department headquarters at the time of his wife’s resignation.
Those allegations were later re-filed at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, along with other complaints about the hostile work environment.
Sources previously accused the secretary of being a “boss from hell,” by forcing aides to run personal errands or perform other menial tasks while on the clock.
Text messages submitted to IG investigators also showed Chavez-DeRemer and Wright bothering staffers into purchasing them bottles of wine during official visits last year, The New York Times reported.
Other texts showed the secretary’s father, Richard Chavez, asking a young female staffer to keep a conversation “private” after saying he “could made some excuses to get out an show u around.”
Han and Wright resigned under pressure from the White House on March 3. The bodyguard, Brian Sloan, resigned on March 19. A fourth aide, Melissa Robey, left the department on March 25.
Chavez-DeRemer had welcomed the member of her security detail into her DC apartment last year and took him on a personal trip in October to the Red Rocks Casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas to celebrate her niece’s 40th birthday during the federal government shutdown, according to sources and the IG complaint.
All four were placed on leave for a period of the probe, with Han and Wright being accused of exerting improper influence over junior staff and verbally abusing some — as well as providing “cover” for the secretary’s alleged misconduct, sources said.
Han allegedly leaned on staffers to shut down internal questions about Chavez-DeRemer’s rumored affair with her bodyguard in late 2025, instructing them to “leave it alone,” according to sources and the initial IG complaint.
Wright infuriated the White House by also disparaging Trump in private, the sources added, telling staff in a meeting last year: “We don’t care what the White House tells us to do. We only care that the secretary looks good.”
But publicly Trump and the White House stood by the labor secretary during the course of the more than three-month investigation, inviting her to events at the executive mansion and issuing statements of support.
“At the Department of Labor, I am proud that we made significant progress in advancing President Trump’s mission to bridge the gap between business and labor and always put the American worker first,” Chavez-DeRemer added in her statement. “We created new pathways to mortgage-paying jobs, prepared workers to excel in the age of AI, took steps to lower prescription drug costs, promoted retirement security, and so much more.”
“Thinking back to my first job packing peaches in rural California, it taught me the value of hard work – a value that I have carried with me every single day in this job and throughout my time in public service,” she also said. “We live in the best country in the world, and I am incredibly grateful that I had this opportunity to meet workers across the nation, listen to their stories, and deliver wins for them and their families.”
Reps for the IG’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
