Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to leave administration |
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to leave administration
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is leaving the Trump administration to take a job in the private sector, the White House said Monday evening.
Questions had been trailing DeRemer about her future in the Trump administration for weeks. Her exit follows the firings of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector,” Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications, said in a statement 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,” Cheung wrote about the former GOP lawmaker from Washington state.
“Keith Sonderling will take on the role of Acting Secretary of Labor.”
Sonderling had served as deputy labor secretary.
NOTUS reported earlier that Chavez-DeRemer had resigned.
It comes as her tenure in the role was called into question as she went through an investigation into allegations of misconduct.
The Labor Department’s inspector general’s office, run by Anthony D’Esposito, is wrapping up a monthslong investigation into allegations of misconduct by Chavez-DeRemer and her closest aides, according to the New York Times.
The allegations include her having an affair with a subordinate and that she used department resources for personal trips, the Times reported.
Labor’s inspector general was reviewing text messages sent from Chavez-DeRemer, her aides, husband and father sent to young female staff messages, the newspaper reported, which also suggested that she would drink during the workday.
The former secretary’s husband, Shawn DeRemer, had been barred from the department’s headquarters after being accused by two staffers of inappropriate touching and sexual assault.
In a lengthy statement, Lori Chavez-DeRemer said she looked forward to the future.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve in this historic Administration and work for the greatest President of my lifetime,” she wrote.
“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. We created new pathways to mortgage-paying jobs, prepared workers to excel in the age of AI, took steps to lower prescription drug costs, promoted retirement security, and so much more,” she wrote.
“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,” she concluded.
Chavez-DeRemer was a one-term congresswoman for Oregon’s 5th district before she was tapped to be labor secretary.
She was confirmed to the Cabinet last March in a 67-32 vote and had backing from unions, including the one her daughter is a member of – the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Union support for Republicans is rare, but the Teamsters broke from the mold in 2024 when its president, Sean O’Brien, spoke at the Republican National Convention, despite the unions decision to not endorse a presidential candidate.
Under her tenure, the department proposed revising or undoing over 60 “obsolete” workplace regulations, along with cancelling millions of dollars in international grants that aimed to fight child labor and slave labor around the world, the Associated Press reported.
This story was updated at 7:01 p.m.
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