Labor Inspector General Pick Faces Demand for Unbiased Probes

President Donald Trump’s choice of a former Republican congressman accused of ethics violations to be the Labor Department’s top watchdog raises questions about whether he can be apolitical in probing jobs data and other controversies.

The nomination of Anthony D’Esposito—a former police officer and GOP congressman who has faced public inquiries into his own ethics violations—to be the DOL’s inspector general advanced past a key Senate committee Oct. 9 after he made promises to key lawmakers to be unbiased in his role.

The job could put D’Esposito at the center of the Trump administration’s planned policy shifts for the DOL and its Bureau of Labor Statistics, where Trump himself has sought changes.

“He is an unconventional and troubling pick,” said Seth Harris, former labor adviser for President Joe Biden and professor at Northeastern University. “The independence of the inspector general is going to be compromised because a former Republican congressman is going to be inclined to follow the lead of the White House rather than follow the facts.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was the only Republican who pushed D’Esposito during his June nomination hearing for answers on how his political affiliations would affect his work.

“I weighed this one really, really hard,” Murkowski said after voting to send his nomination to the Senate floor. “I was concerned about Mr. D’Esposito’s political statements in the past and how he might carry that forward.”

D’Esposito emphasized his work with labor unions in Congress, as well as asserting his loyalty to Trump’s agenda, to senators in June.

“I will work with each and every one of you—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents—to make this office a model of integrity, independence, and effectiveness,” he said.

Watchdog to ‘Attack Dog’

D’Esposito spent one term in the House and was previously a New York Police Department detective.

He faced accusations of flouting House ethics rules in 2024 when the New York Times reported he allegedly hired his fiancée’s daughter, paying her about $3,800 a month, and another woman that he was having an affair with. The Nassau County native has denied any wrongdoing.

His background in Congress sets D’Esposito apart from past inspectors general at the labor department. Since 1990 there have only been five Senate-confirmed inspectors general at DOL, nearly all of them serving across different presidential administrations.

D’Esposito was nominated to fill the post formerly held by Larry Turner, who was appointed during Trump’s first administration and served through Biden’s presidency. Turner, along with inspectors general in at least 16 other agencies, were fired by Trump in January.

The terminations sparked lawsuits and stoked fears about political retribution against government accountability roles. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has also moved to shutter the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said before his panel voted along party lines to approve D’Esposito’s nomination that the new inspector general would “drive” Trump’s mission to “reform the federal bureaucracy and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.”

During the June hearing, D’Esposito said he would lead the inspector general office “without fear or favor.”

Samantha Sanders, director of government affairs and advocacy at the Economic Policy Institute, said having a political actor in the inspector general role would be “a real shame.”

IGs of the past have probed the department’s ability to investigate child labor claims, unemployment insurance fraud during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

“It’s always good to be asking questions about whether things are being done appropriately, if funds are accounted for, or if programs are effective,” she said. “You need a strong IG for that and there’s certainly a concern that D’Esposito might be the president’s attack dog.”

Potential Targets

If confirmed, D’Esposito would have the authority to open inquiries into DOL operations ranging from oversight of retirement benefits and wage-hour enforcement to unemployment insurance.

He could launch investigations at the direction of a member of Congress, a DOL official, or on his own, said Erica Groshen, former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and professor at Cornell University.

These reports have traditionally guided lawmakers and regulators in changing federal policy.

Trump abruptly fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in August after the agency corrected the monthly jobs report, which the president said “eroded” the public’s trust. He nominated EJ Antoni, chief economist for the Heritage Foundation, but then pulled that nomination when Murkowski expressed “extreme reservations” about him.

The department’s inspector general office has already launched a review of BLS’ process for collecting and reporting data.

Trump’s IG could take the opportunity to place BLS under further scrutiny, Groshen said.

“In some ways, this is part and parcel of this administration’s general view that everything is political and therefore all things should be done in a partisan way. I find that very worrisome,” she said. “I worry about the guardrails coming off.”

Harris said D’Esposito could also produce reports that would be used to further the administration’s agenda against labor programs like the Job Corps and unemployment insurance, which have already come under fire by Trump officials, or slash the department’s workforce.

The DOL moved to close Job Corps in May but has been ordered to keep the program running by a New York district judge. It is also planning to create a national database of unemployment insurance claims to crack down on fraudulent filings.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer warned states earlier this year that she would pull the insurance funding from states that allow undocumented immigrants to access unemployment benefits—a relatively rare occurrence for which there are already deterrents.

“We would all be justified in thinking that those reports are not objective, honest reports from an independent enterprise,” Harris said. “Instead they would be partisan efforts to advance the president’s political agenda, rather than the best functioning labor department we could possibly have.”