Labor Dept. Watchdog: Ex-Secretary Chavez-DeRemer Ran 'Toxic' Office, Directed Agent to Tip Strip Club Dancer

A watchdog's 53 witnesses, 500 documents, and one strip club receipt

Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April 2026 amid swirling misconduct allegations. On Thursday, the Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General, led by Anthony D'Esposito, released the findings of the investigation that followed her out the door. They are not flattering.

According to the Associated Press report carried by PBS and Courthouse News, investigators interviewed 53 current and former Labor Department staffers plus one employee from another federal agency, and reviewed more than 500 documents, photos and videos. Business Insider, The Guardian and the International Business Times each put the number of witnesses who specifically described the office as "toxic, intimidating and humiliating" at 38. This is a subset of the broader interview pool, not a contradiction of the AP's larger total.

D'Esposito wrote that "a preponderance of the evidence substantiated multiple violations of DOL policy by all five former DOL officials who were subjects of this investigation," according to MS NOW. That's an administrative finding, not a criminal one. No charges have been filed against Chavez-DeRemer or anyone named in the report.

The strip club incident

The report's most-quoted episode happened during a personal trip to Oregon. Chavez-DeRemer allegedly directed her driver, a member of her security detail, to hand cash to a performer at what the report calls an establishment featuring "partially nude dancers," according to The Guardian and the LA Times. When the agent hesitated, a senior security official told him to comply. Chavez-DeRemer then took more cash from her purse and had him drop the bills one at a time onto the dancer. He complied, the report says, "against his will."

The relationship with her security detail

Investigators documented an extensive pattern of contact between Chavez-DeRemer and an assistant special agent in charge on her protective detail. Identified in earlier reporting, per the International Business Times, as Brian Sloan, this contact includes shoulder massages, golfing and gambling together, and walking arm-in-arm at events, per the LA Times.

Hotel door-lock records from two Las Vegas trips indicated the two spent portions of nights in each other's rooms. Key-fob records and building footage showed the agent visiting her Washington apartment, a pattern that reportedly continued even after he was placed on administrative leave in January and suspended from duty. He resigned in March.

Critically, the inspector general did not conclude the relationship was romantic or sexual. Both Chavez-DeRemer and the agent declined to be interviewed by investigators, which is why the report characterizes the relationship only as "inappropriately close and unprofessional" rather than reaching a firmer conclusion. That's a meaningful distinction the Daily Wire's headline framing risks blurring by leading with the tip story rather than the caveat.

Alcohol, errands, and "beatdowns"

Witnesses told investigators that Chavez-DeRemer, chief of staff Jihun Han, and deputy chief of staff Rebecca Wright regularly drank in the secretary's office during work hours and pressured other staff to join, ridiculing those who declined, according to Business Insider and the IBT. Han cycled through seven assistants in roughly nine months and reportedly enjoyed threatening staff with termination during sessions employees nicknamed "beatdowns."

Staff were also directed to perform personal errands on the taxpayer's clock. The LA Times reports Chavez-DeRemer sent her personal aide and executive assistant to her home to organize her bedroom closet, then had them film the finished product. Other staff retrieved her mail, made personal purchases that weren't always reimbursed, or were directed to communicate with Spanish-speaking house cleaners and movers based on their ethnicity rather than job description.

On travel, the report identified at least 13 trips to Chavez-DeRemer's family or personal residences and five trips to Las Vegas, plus three nights at a luxury Palm Beach hotel and spa that exceeded federal reimbursement rates, according to The Guardian.

Wright reportedly excluded four security agents from Chavez-DeRemer's detail, including a Black assistant special agent in charge, based on her view that they were too old, unfit, or "too MAGA." The inspector general found no evidence race played a role in those staffing decisions.

Where accountability has already landed

Han and Wright have both been terminated. A separate unnamed official who planned Chavez-DeRemer's public appearances was terminated in March 2026. The security agent resigned in March.

Chavez-DeRemer's attorney, Nick Oberheiden, told The Guardian the report is "untimely, moot, built around undisclosed individuals," and concludes only "what Ms Chavez-DeRemer always knew, namely that she did not break any laws." He made a similar point to NBC News: no law was violated. That's a fair distinction to hold onto. This is an ethics and policy investigation, not a criminal indictment, and Chavez-DeRemer has not been charged with anything.

The Labor Department itself declined to weigh in on the substance, telling reporters it "respects the integrity of the Inspector General's investigation" and referring questions to the OIG. Chavez-DeRemer, appointed by President Trump in January 2025 after drawing rare early praise from some Senate Democrats for her union-friendly record in Congress, has not publicly responded to the report as of Friday.

What happens next is unclear. The report makes no recommendation for prosecution, and none of the five named officials face known criminal exposure. Whether Congress or the White House takes any further action on the findings remains an open question.