Trump’s scandal-ridden Labor Secretary resigns after reports of drinking and misconduct

Donald Trump’s Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer has resigned in the wake of allegations of misconduct in office, marking the third high-profile departure from the president’s Cabinet within recent weeks.

Inquiries into complaints about her leadership — alleging abuses of her position’s power, having an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job — have also forced out at least four other officials within the nation’s labor agency, including her former chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, among others.

Another staffer was fired late last month after she sat for a four-hour interview with the department’s inspector general.

Chavez-DeRemer’s resignation on Monday was not announced by Trump, who had previously delivered news of his ousting of Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem. Instead, the announcement came from White House Assistant Director of Communications Steven Cheung.

“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector,” he wrote on X.

“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,” he added.

Keith Sonderling will serve as Acting Secretary of Labor.

Her departure follows a formal complaint with the Department of Labor’s office of inspector general accusing her of abusing her title, stashing alcohol in her office, and engaging in an extramarital affair with a member of her security detail — a series of blockbuster revelations that trickled out in recent weeks while the now-former secretary faced growing bipartisan scrutiny into her behavior.

Trump appointed the former Republican congresswoman to lead the Cabinet-level agency in late 2024, and she was confirmed in March 2025. Within her one chaotic year in office, Chavez-DeRemer has overseen a radically reshaped federal workforce, with thousands of employees fired or forced out under the administration’s mandates to drastically reduce staff and slash spending.

Her husband also has been accused of sexually assaulting Department of Labor employees, resulting in his alleged ban from department buildings. Shawn DeRemer told The Wall Street Journal that he “categorically” denied the allegations.

The investigation also allegedly uncovered evidence that she took agency staff to a strip club during a taxpayer-funded work trip, and text messages reviewed by The New York Times allege Chavez-DeRemer, her top aides and family members routinely requested young staff members to bring them wine during work trips for the department.

In one undated message reportedly seen by The NYT, Chavez-DeRemer asked a staff member to bring a bottle of rosé to her hotel room.“Do they sell by the bottle,” she allegedly asked. When the staffer said they were out of rosé, she reportedly asked: “How about the josh sauvi B.”

Her husband and her father also allegedly exchanged text messages with young female staff members, and Chavez-DeRemer and the former deputy chief of staff instructed some employees to “pay attention” to the men, according to people familiar with the investigation who spoke to the newspaper.

The complaint also alleged that Chavez-DeRemer’s Chief of Staff, Jihun Han, and Deputy Chief of Staff, Rebecca Wright, were “involved and have knowledge of these issues” and had also allegedly been tasked by the secretary with inventing work trips for her to go on where she could also spend time with friends and family.

They were placed on administrative leave in January.

Chavez-DeRemer is also the subject of civil rights complaints filed by staff members who alleged a hostile work environment under her leadership and sought to retaliate against women who reported her husband’s alleged sexual misconduct.

In a statement on X Monday evening, Chavez-DeRemer described her time with the administration as “an honor and a privilege” and referred to Trump as the “greatest president of my lifetime”.

“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,” she 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.

“Thank you, President Trump. While my time serving in the Administration comes to a conclusion, it doesn’t mean I will stop fighting for American workers. I am looking forward to what the future has in store as I depart for the private sector.”

During her tenure, Chavez-DeRemer also saw dramatic rollbacks to workplace regulations, including workplace safety measures and minimum wage requirements for home health care workers and people with disabilities, drawing swift condemnations from organized labor groups.

The administration canceled millions of dollars in international grants administered by Chavez-DeRemer’s agency to combat child labor and slavery, abruptly cutting off work that led to historic declines in the number of child workers worldwide.

Her exit is expected to fuel ongoing speculation about the president’s apparent efforts to retool his Cabinet before midterm elections that are expected to shift the balance of power in Congress and likely derail his agenda.

Noem was the first Cabinet member forced out of the administration since Trump returned to the White House last year. The president demoted his now-former Homeland Security secretary after growing outrage over her handling of his anti-immigration agenda and her handling of multi-million dollar contracts for an ad campaign in which she was prominently featured.

He appointed Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace her.

The president’s ousting of now-former Attorney General Pam Bondi also followed bipartisan outrage over her handling of investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and the release of millions of files connected to the late sex offender. Trump also publicly raged against the Department of Justice’s failure to prosecute his political enemies after the president demanded their imprisonment.

Bondi’s deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is currently serving as Acting Attorney General, but the president has not yet named his nominee to formally replace her.