WASHINGTON (AP) — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, the White House said Monday, after multiple allegations of abusing her position’s power, including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job.
Chavez-DeRemer, 58, is the third Trump Cabinet member to leave her post after Trump fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March and ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this month.
Unlike other recent Cabinet departures, Chavez-DeRemer’s exit was announced by a White House aide, not by the president on his social media account.
“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said on the social media site X.
He said Keith Sonderling, the current deputy labor secretary, would become acting labor secretary in her place. The news outlet NOTUS was the first to report Chavez-DeRemer’s resignation.
Chavez-DeRemer’s departure follows reports that began surfacing in January that she was under a series of investigations.
Investigators spoke with several dozen witnesses and uncovered evidence that Chavez-DeRemer and her staff abused federal spending limits on personal trips, including on fancy hotels, S.U.V. rentals and meals. Four people have left or been forced out of their jobs in connection with the investigation.
A New York Times report last Wednesday revealed that the Labor Department’s inspector general was reviewing the investigation.
She also faced allegations that she drank alcohol on the job and that she tasked aides to plan official trips for primarily personal reasons.
Late Monday, Chavez-DeRemer posted the allegations were false and an effort to “undermine” President Trump.
