Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer had an inappropriate relationship with a member of her security detail, pressured subordinates to drink and relied on her staff for everything from organizing laundry to translating her instructions to a moving crew.
Those are the findings of an investigation into Chavez-DeRemer, a member of the Trump Cabinet whose nomination was initially greeted with enthusiasm by some Senate Democrats, but whose term ultimately ended in a cloud of scandal.
Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito wrote in a 44-page report that 38 witnesses described to investigators an office that was “toxic, intimidating and demeaning.”
Chavez-DeRemer’s attorney did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment. In a statement to NBC News, he said she had not broken the law.
“Secretary Chavez-DeRemer has not broken any laws,” Nick Oberheiden, the former secretary’s lawyer, said in a statement to the newspaper. “That is important to highlight and contrast with the premature and incorrect speculation of some. In addition, as a private citizen, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer has successfully pursued new projects.”
Here are some of the key findings from the report.
A ‘toxic culture’
Two of Chavez-DeRemer’s top aides, Chief of Staff Jihun Han and Bureau Deputy Chief of Staff Rebecca Wright, violated department policy by routinely engaging in “threatening, demeaning and insulting oral and written communications,” the report said.
The watchdog concluded that the secretary “apparently was aware of this behavior and took no action to stop it.”
In some cases, the report says Chavez-DeRemer himself was involved in the behavior.
“Witnesses stated that Chavez-DeRemer, Han and Wright openly discussed matters regarding employee performance in the presence of other personnel, including details of performance-related meetings and whether those employees had cried during the meetings,” the report said.
Contrary to department policy, the report stated that the trio regularly drank alcohol during work hours and pressured other employees to join them.
“Witnesses reported that when other employees attending these meetings did not drink alcohol, Chavez-DeRemer, Han and Wright pressured them to participate or ridiculed them for abstaining,” the report says.
Han and Wright were later terminated.
Chavez-DeRemer had an ‘inappropriate relationship’
Before she resigned in April, Chavez-DeRemer faced multiple reports alleging she was dating a member of her security detail.
D’Esposito wrote that the direct evidence his team reviewed did not sufficiently establish that the couple “had a romantic or sexual relationship.”
That said, the inspector general goes into detail about the evidence he uncovered, down to hotel door lock records and a video of the officer, who is not named in the report, entering Chavez-DeRemer’s building.
D’Esposito wrote that in two cases during trips to Las Vegas, door lock data “reflected activity that appeared to indicate that the two subjects spent at least one night in the other’s room.”
The officer in question eventually resigned.
Chavez-DeRemer pressured a security guard to give money to a nude dancer
During a private trip home to Oregon, the report said Chavez-DeRemer asked her security guard to make an unplanned trip to what appears to be a strip club. The report describes it as “an establishment that upon entry was determined to feature partially nude dancers.”
The report states that Chavez-DeRemer entered the establishment with the officer with whom she had an inappropriate relationship and another member of the security force.
According to the report, Chavez-DeRemer asked the driver to give money to one of the performers. Unsure of what to do, the driver asked the officer with whom the secretary was having an inappropriate relationship for advice.
“Chavez-DeRemer then removed additional money from her purse and asked the officer to drop the bills one by one on the partially nude woman,” the report said.
Chavez-DeRemer relied on her staff for personal errands
Despite the department’s policy to the contrary, the report includes multiple instances in which the secretary asked employees to help her with personal errands during work hours.
“These duties were outside the scope of this employee’s official duties and included having Chavez-DeRemer’s personal belongings organized, retrieving her packages, making personal purchases for her, supervising her movers, and communicating with household service providers during official duty time,” the report said.
On one occasion, Chavez-DeRemer instructed an employee to “hang up her laundry and dry cleaning and organize her clothes, shoes and purses.” Investigators obtained evidence of what happened because the staffer gave the secretary a video showing the job being completed.
According to the report, during the 2025 government shutdown, Chavez-DeRemer asked an employee to pick up packages from the mailroom of her home.
Chavez-DeRemer also asked employees to purchase “photo frames, Christmas decorations, gifts and alcohol” on her behalf.
A Hispanic federal employee, the report said, was asked to “translate during interactions with Spanish-speaking employees in her personal residence.”
You can read the report in full here.
