Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned on April 20, 2026, becoming the third Cabinet member to depart during President Donald Trump's second term. The announcement came through an official statement posted on X by White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung, who confirmed the departure and said Chavez-DeRemer would be leaving the Administration to take a job in the private sector. Deputy Secretary Keith Sonderling will take over as acting labor secretary.
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The resignation brings to a close a tenure that lasted just over a year and was, for much of its duration, overshadowed by a growing list of internal complaints and a formal federal investigation into conduct at the Department of Labor.
The Inspector General Investigation: What the Probe Covered
The news follows a series of civil rights complaints inside the agency under her leadership, as well as an investigation conducted by the agency's inspector general's office into the conduct of Chavez-DeRemer and her senior aides. The Labor Department inspector general's investigation covered a series of allegations that included a stash of alcohol in her office, a relationship with one of the members of her security team, and her use of agency resources for a variety of personal activities.
The New York Times reported last week that the Department of Labor's inspector general's office was reviewing personal messages that Chavez-DeRemer, her top aides, and her family members had exchanged with department employees, including messages requesting that staffers bring them wine, at times during the workday.
The inspector general investigating the matter is former Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, R-N.Y., who served with Chavez-DeRemer in the House when she represented a district in Oregon. The inspector general probe at the Labor Department had been going on for months and was nearing completion. One of the final components was to be an interview with Chavez-DeRemer herself, which had been scheduled for this week according to a source familiar with the matter.
Her attorney, Nick Oberheiden, told NBC News that her resignation "is not the result of legal wrongdoings. It is a personal decision."
Staff Departures and Internal Fallout
The investigation did not stop at the Secretary herself. Chavez-DeRemer's chief of staff, Jihun Han, and his deputy, Rebecca Wright, had been placed on administrative leave in mid-January while the Labor Department's inspector general investigated possible "travel fraud." The staffers were given 24 hours to resign after being informed that their positions had been terminated. The inspector general investigated whether Han and Wright engaged in "travel fraud" by setting up professional events that Chavez-DeRemer used as an excuse for personal travel.
A third senior member of her staff, Melissa Robey, said in a statement issued March 26 that she had been fired a couple of days earlier, after giving a four-hour interview to the Office of the Inspector General.
At least one additional staffer, a member of Chavez-DeRemer's security detail, had been on leave since January 16 as officials investigated allegations of a romantic relationship between the two. Four people at the agency were ultimately forced out of their positions, including Chavez-DeRemer's former deputy chief of staff and the security official.
In addition to the professional allegations, the New York Times was first to report that Chavez-DeRemer's husband, Shawn DeRemer, an anesthesiologist in Portland, Oregon, had been barred from Labor Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., after at least two staffers reported he had touched them inappropriately. Washington, D.C. police and federal prosecutors closed the investigations without bringing charges. The law firm representing Shawn DeRemer said in a March 12 statement that he "categorically denies every allegation."
Legal Standing and the Broader Cabinet Context
From a legal standpoint, no charges have been filed against Chavez-DeRemer, and the investigation itself had not concluded at the time of her departure. DC's Metropolitan Police Department conducted a brief investigation into the allegations involving her husband, but ultimately federal prosecutors declined to press charges. Her attorney has maintained throughout that she committed no legal wrongdoing.
Chavez-DeRemer is the third Cabinet member to depart during the president's second term, following Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi. In early March, Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shortly after lawmakers on Capitol Hill criticized her over her agency's handling of immigration enforcement, as well as its $220 million advertising campaign featuring the secretary on horseback. A month later, Attorney General Pam Bondi left amid simmering frustration over her leadership of the Justice Department and her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Chavez-DeRemer is also the second Trump Labor Department head to step down. Alex Acosta, former labor secretary during Trump's first administration, resigned in July 2019 after facing scrutiny for granting Jeffrey Epstein a plea deal when he was a U.S. district attorney in Southern Florida.
Trump's selection of Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Labor Department had been seen as a concession to Teamsters President Sean O'Brien, who had been friendly with Trump through the presidential campaign, taking a prime-time speaking slot at the 2024 Republican National Convention. The probe largely overshadowed policy work at the department, which carried on as the secretary traveled on her year-long, 50-state "America at Work" tour.
In her own statement posted to X on the evening of April 20, Chavez-DeRemer said she was "proud" of the work the department had accomplished and that she looked forward to what the future had in store as she departed for the private sector. She also stated that the allegations against her, her family, and her team had been "peddled by high-ranked deep state actors" coordinating with the media to undermine the administration. https://x.com/i/status/2046391020791722218
Keith Sonderling, who had already been running much of the department's day-to-day operations, now assumes the role of acting secretary. The White House has not announced a timeline for nominating a permanent replacement.
