Inside the Collapse of Trump’s Scandal-Plagued Labor Secretary

President Donald Trump summoned three top labor leaders to the White House for a private meeting last week.

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who has aided two Trump cabinet members through confirmation, along with building trades union leaders Sean McGarvey and Gary LaBarbera, were there to bolster support for union-backed construction jobs.

Left out: Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who for months had been facing an internal watchdog probe into her misconduct.

Chavez-DeRemer’s name didn’t come up in talks with the president, O’Brien told Bloomberg Law on Monday. Once one of her loudest supporters, he didn’t exert himself to defend the former Oregon congresswoman.

The daughter of a Teamster, Chavez-DeRemer was supposed to bridge the gap between an administration that has been at times hostile to unions and the world of organized labor. She promised to create jobs and promote the administration’s policies with gusto, at one point hanging a three-story banner of Trump’s face outside DOL headquarters.

But an inspector general probe into a growing list of alleged offenses—travel fraud, mistreatment of staff, an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate—left her sidelined in recent months, according to 11 current and former officials, corporate advisers, lobbyists, and policymakers who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Chavez-DeRemer was about to be thrust back into the spotlight: she was set to testify before the House Appropriations Committee next week, giving Democrats an opportunity to grill her publicly. Staying on the job would have risked suffering the same fate as former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was replaced last month shortly after a combative hearing on Capitol Hill drew negative press, one former department official said.

Chavez-DeRemer met with Trump one final time Monday, a White House official said. After her resignation was announced, she attacked her critics on X, saying the allegations were “peddled by high-ranked deep state actors who have been coordinating with the one-sided news media and continue to undermine President Trump’s mission.”

Ballooning Controversy

In her final days at the DOL, large blocks of Chavez-DeRemer’s schedule remained unfilled as she became increasingly viewed as toxic to the business community she was supposed to be working with, according to three administration officials with direct knowledge of office operations.

The inspector general investigation prompted a staff exodus. A bodyguard resigned amid allegations that the two were having an an inappropriate relationship. Her advance director said she was wrongfully terminated after an internal defamation campaign. And in February, her husband, Shawn DeRemer, was banned from the DOL’s Frances Perkins headquarters over allegations that he inappropriately touched staffers.

All the while, Chavez-DeRemer was losing a key constituency. Some business leaders stopped wanting to meet with her, worried they would be forced into a photo op that could cause a publicity crisis later, according to four private-sector consultants, administration officials, and others familiar with the dynamic.

She’s also said to be facing civil rights complaints by three women over her husband’s conduct, according to reporting by the New York Times.

Then it got worse. On April 15, leaked text messages published by the New York Times showed Chavez-DeRemer’s husband and father sending suggestive texts to female staffers. The messages are reportedly under scrutiny by the IG.

“Hearing u/r in town. Wishing you would let me know. I could have made some excuses to get out and show u around. Please keep this private,” the labor secretary’s father, Richard Chavez, wrote in one message.

Coming Obstacles

Lawmakers were preparing to demand Chavez-DeRemer, for the first time publicly, talk about the ongoing inspector general probe and her alleged misbehavior while leading the DOL. She was set to go before at least two congressional committees in the coming weeks.

“She needs to answer the questions that are swirling around this IG investigation, answer questions about her husband’s supposed ban from the office, and what plans she has in place to protect all workers—but especially for female workers—from harassment,” Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) told Bloomberg Law in a recent interview.

Last year, the secretary spent much of her time on her 50-state “America at Work” listening tour, where she met with industry leaders and local workers to promote the department’s push to expand registered apprenticeships and Trump’s economic policies. Aides hoped it would increase public exposure and serve as a platform for future ambitions—namely, to be Vice President JD Vance’s running mate in 2028, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

But the controversy overshadowed the positive press.

After the tour ended in March, she appeared sparingly in public and pulled back from travel, according to one DOL official who was not authorized to speak publicly. Her public schedule had not been updated since last August.

Unions stayed quiet, having little incentive to push her out the door. An absentee secretary, they felt, is better than a hostile one, said one union ally granted anonymity to speak candidly.

“I mean, look, here’s the reality of it: She’s still the labor secretary,” O’Brien said Monday. “And, you know, until someone says differently, we support the labor secretary.”

She resigned two hours later.