On an unknown date, an investigation into Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer was initiated by the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Inspector General (OIG). Her chief of staff, Jihun Han, and deputy chief of staff Rebecca Wright, were also caught up in the investigation. Chavez-DeRemer is accused of abusing her position by engaging in an affair with a subordinate, drinking in her office during the workday, and illegally using taxpayer money to go on vacations. Similar to the case of Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, she utilized staff to run personal errands.
The meetings between Chavez-DeRemer and her alleged adulterous lover took place as far back as September. She dismissed the need for security while meeting this person. The scandalous couple met for a third time in October, with Chavez-DeRemer’s clandestine lover waiting until her security detail went home before meeting with her in a Washington D.C. apartment. Later that month, they went to the Red Rocks Casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas during the government shutdown, which hurt millions of Americans.
While purported footage of Chavez-DeRemer’s misdeeds has been said to exist, it has not been released as of the time of this writing. However, the New York Post shared images of her engaging in inappropriate behavior in Las Vegas.
In November, Chavez-DeRemer turned her attention to taxpayer funded trips. She went on five trips, “three of which were listed in her own travel schedules as ‘personal’ and included stops in Michigan, Oregon and California, according to schedules reviewed by The Post.” After engaging with her work for half an hour, she would do “personal stuff” at night, and go out drinking, according to the ethics complaint lodged against her.
In all of 2025, Chavez-DeRemer went on fifty “official” trips to 37 states. A potential conflict of interest was apparent in several of them.
At least 10 of those visits were to Nevada or locations where she has personal ties — including her home state of Oregon; Arizona, where she and her anesthesiologist husband have a home that’s listed as a primary residence in mortgage documents, as ProPublica first reported; and Michigan, where her daughter resides.
New York Post
Han and Wright “made up” official trips to areas of personal significance for their boss, allowing her to commit “travel fraud.”
On December 18, 2025, Chavez-DeRemer’s husband, Shawn, allegedly engaged in unwanted sexual contact a female DOL employee. Another employee also complained about his behavior. A copy of the police report against him is dated January 24, 2026. On an unknown date, he was barred from the DOL headquarters to protect its employees.
On January 12, Han and Wright were placed on leave. On January 16, a security officer assigned to protect Lori Chavez-DeRemer was placed on leave, implying it was he that she had an affair with.
The DOL’s OIG investigation has been marred by its own problems. It was lead by Anthony D’Esposito, a former Republican congressman who has engaged in nepotistic behavior, hiring his fiancee’s daughter. Like the subject of his investigation, he allegedly engaged in an affair. He did not recuse himself from investigating Lori Chavez-DeRemer despite this.
Lori Chavez-DeRemer has a history of using other people’s money for luxury expenses. During her 2024 House race, which she ultimately lost, she spent “$56,000 on luxury hotels and $4,345 on limo and chauffeur services.”
Author’s note
Despite all of these allegations, the Trump administration has consistently defended Lori Chavez-DeRemer without counterevidence.
A traditional Christian conservative moral worldview, which the GOP claims to have, would decry drinking on the job and committing adultery. This is yet another example of the Trump administration’s performative and purely aesthetic Christian conservatism.
Chavez-DeRemer’s abuse of her position for personal gain with minimal consequences is another clear image of America’s descent into oligarchy under the second Trump administration.
