“Un boulot formidable”

Accused of wrongdoing in the media for several weeks, under investigation by the ministry’s inspector general, Chavez-DeRemer was pushed to resign. Professional mistakes are attributed to her, including consuming alcohol while on duty and using public funds for private trips. She is also accused of having an extramarital relationship with a colleague, who has since resigned. The minister’s husband and father are also accused of inappropriate behavior with young department employees.

Why Pam Bondi’s dismissal is good and bad news for American democracy

The White House has tried to protect Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Even in January, Donald Trump declared that she was doing “a fantastic job.” It is true that she was an asset to him. A former Oregon congresswoman from 2022 to 2024, this moderate Republican had to maneuver to get elected in a predominantly Democratic district. Trump even mockingly referred to her as a Democrat when the influential Teamsters Union president, Sean O’Brien, recommended her to lead the Labor Department.

Chavez-DeRemer is the daughter of a Teamsters Union labor leader. Therefore, she was predisposed to maintaining good relations with the labor world, which could help Donald Trump make gains among that electorate. Her forced resignation, six months before the midterm elections, is therefore a blow to the Republican camp. It will be up to her deputy, Keith Sonderling, who will serve as interim, to cushion the impact.

Change of direction

If a Teamsters Union spokesperson believes he can assert that there has never been a more devoted Secretary of Labor to workers’ causes under a Republican Administration (in one year, she visited workers in all fifty states of the Union), Chavez-DeRemer took care to give her new employer reassurances by pursuing a “pro-business” policy, which also caused discontent. She thus encouraged deregulation in many sectors, sometimes risking compromising worker safety. She also played a part in the fight against immigration by cracking down on companies that recruit undocumented immigrants or by monitoring the use of H-1B visas issued to foreigners with “exceptional skills.”

Paranoid and alcoholic

Undoubtedly, the White House is unlikely to have much time to dwell on Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s fate. Their focus must likely be on Kash Patel’s situation. A controversial figure from the start (the Senate barely approved his nomination by 51 votes to 49, unlike Chavez-DeRemer who received support from about fifteen Democrats to win with 67 votes against 32), this 46-year-old former lawyer has been making headlines since an article was published in the monthly The Atlantic on April 17. It portrays the FBI director not only as impulsive and paranoid but also as a partygoer and inveterate alcoholic.

Absences that are frightening

The physical or mental absences of the FBI director are increasingly worrying. People wonder what would happen if he were unable to fulfill his responsibilities in the event of an attack, for example, as the conflict in the Middle East raises fears of terrorist reprisals. Kash Patel has responded by filing a defamation lawsuit – he is seeking $250 million in damages and interest. The Atlantic, on the other hand, reports an anecdote, confirmed by nine witnesses. On April 10, the FBI director allegedly succumbed to panic because he could not turn on his computer. He thought he had been fired by the White House without being notified.