Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is guilty of inappropriate conduct during her roughly one-year tenure in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, the department’s watchdog concluded.
Chavez-DeRemer had an “inappropriately close and unprofessional relationship” with someone on her security detail, regularly drank on the job, and generally oversaw a “toxic, intimidating and humiliating” work environment, the agency’s internal Office of Inspector General determined in a new report.
In one incident, Chavez-DeRemer ordered a member of her security detail to throw cash at a stripper, asking him against his wishes to “drop the bills one by one onto the partially nude woman,” according to one allegation named in the report. She also combined personal and official travel, directed government employees to perform personal tasks using official time and resources, and failed to report gifts through required channels, in violation of federal regulations, according to the watchdog. The findings come after Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April over allegations of inappropriate behavior, misuse of public funds, and an affair with a subordinate.
The OIG said it interviewed 53 current and former Labor Department employees as part of its monthslong investigation into Chavez-DeRemer, which began in January. The inquiry determined that the former secretary failed to check the behavior of some senior staff at the department and stop them from harassing employees.
The watchdog said 38 witnesses consistently described the work environment as “toxic, intimidating and humiliating,” with the report painting the former secretary’s then-chief of staff, Jihun Han, and deputy chief of staff, Rebecca Wright, in a particularly bad light. Han and Wright were placed on investigative leave before they resigned under pressure from Trump administration officials in March.
The former secretary maintained a supply of alcoholic beverages in her office for personal use, according to the report. When employees attending meetings declined alcohol, witnesses reported that Chavez-DeRemer, Han, and Wright pressured them to participate or ridiculed them for abstaining.
EMBATTLED LABOR SECRETARY HAS HISTORY OF QUESTIONABLE SPENDING THAT ELUDED CONGRESS
Over two dozen department employees told the New York Times this year that Chavez-DeRemer was rarely in the office.
A previous Washington Examiner investigation found that Chavez-DeRemer had a long history of using campaign cash and public funds to pay for luxury expenses prior to her nomination to head the Labor Department, including steak, seafood, limousine rides, and trips to five-star resorts and casinos.