Donald Trump’s former labor secretary reportedly instructed a member of her security detail to drop banknotes on a stripper, had an “inappropriate relationship” with a bodyguard and maintained a workplace that more than three dozen witnesses described as “toxic, intimidating and humiliating.” Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April after one year on the job in the wake of allegations of misconduct in office and press inquiries and investigations into complaints about her leadership, including an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job. Thursday’s damning 40-page report from the Department of Labor’s internal Inspector General details a series of incidents from her one-year term, which kicked off with a staff party where she pressured officials to drink and “ridiculed them for abstaining,” according to the report. She then embarked on a cross-country “America at Work” campaign that stopped in locations where she could visit friends and family and then frequently billed her personal travel to the government, according to the inspector general’s office.
Her calendar often only showed a handful of meetings per trip, with “one or two official engagements totaling less than two hours over two days,” the report said. Chavez-DeRemer also called on government staff to perform personal tasks, including organizing her closet and buying Christmas ornaments and wine, according to the report. Witnesses reported that her personal relationship with a senior member of her security detail — an agent who resigned in March and was not named in the report — had contributed to a “tense and hostile” work environment and violated security protocol.
Chavez-DeRemer “developed and maintained an inappropriately close and unprofessional relationship with [her bodyguard] while he exercised supervisory and operational authority over her protective detail that was inconsistent with federal impartiality and preferential-treatment standards,” according to the report. The report also said evidence “appeared to indicate” that they spent at least “portions overnight" in each other’s hotel rooms during two Las Vegas trips in 2025. Hotel surveillance footage and other records “corroborated the unusually close nature of the relationship,” the report says.
The inspector general did not, however, “obtain sufficient direct evidence to establish that the relationship was romantic or sexual,” according to the report. In April of last year, shortly after she entered office, Chavez-DeRemer allegedly brought her subordinates to a small-town strip club in Oregon - Angels PDX - for an “off-the-record stop” at the end of a five-day work trip. Chavez-DeRemer allegedly took out money from her purse and asked her driver to “drop the bills one by one onto the partially nude woman,” according to the report.
When the agent hesitated, her bodyguard told him to “follow Chavez-DeRemer's instructions,” the report says. The report from Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito follows a monthslong investigation into allegations of misconduct by Chavez-DeRemer and her aides, which 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. The Independent has requested comment from representatives for Chavez-DeRemer.
Following initial reports of whistleblower complaints against her in April, her attorney said she “categorically, unequivocally and emphatically denies each and every one of the allegations.” She was scheduled to be interviewed by the inspector general’s office when she resigned. Her attorney subsequently declined to make her available for the interview, according to the report. After leaving office, Chavez-DeRemer started the Republican-aligned American Workers First political action committee, which has yet to provide a public report of its contributions.
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