Former labor secretary drank at the office and misused resources, probe finds

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Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer violated department policy by drinking alcohol at the office and telling her staff to perform personal tasks for her, an independent Labor Department investigation found.

The scathing report published Thursday by the department’s Office of Inspector General also found that Chavez-DeRemer accepted expensive gifts without proper notification, combined personal and official travel and had an “inappropriately close” relationship with a supervisor in her security detail.

Some of her staffers, including her chief of staff, were also found to have behaved improperly.

CNN has reached out to Chavez-DeRemer’s lawyer for comment. A spokesperson for the Department of Labor said the agency “respects the integrity of the Inspector General’s investigation.”

Chavez-DeRemer departed the Labor Department earlier this year for a job in the private sector. The report sheds light on the former secretary’s brief tenure, which was marked by turmoil.

Under her leadership, the department saw a major reduction in staff as part of the administration’s reshaping of the federal workforce. Her husband, Shawn DeRemer, also faced sexual assault allegations and was reportedly banned from the agency’s headquarters, according to the New York times. A criminal investigation into Shawn DeRemer’s matter has been closed.

In one instance, according to the report, Chavez-DeRemer instructed an aide to use a department vehicle to go to her house to “to hang her laundry and dry cleaning and organize her clothing, shoes, and purses.” She also directed staff to buy alcohol and other personal items for her, including asking an aide during a work trip “to purchase wine for her at her hotel,” the inspector general report found.

The gifts Chavez-DeRemer did not properly disclose include tickets to a rodeo from a lobbyist, an alligator-hide wallet gifted during a trip to Springfield, Louisiana and two cowboy hats gifted during an America First Policy Institute event in Palm Beach, Florida, the inspector general said, based on a review of testimony from witnesses and department records.

Investigators scrutinized the November 2025 trip to Palm Beach, which was for a conservative gala held at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, with the report revealing that she “stayed three nights at a luxury hotel and spa with a nightly rate of $529, excluding taxes.” She was reimbursed over $2,000 for the trip, which greatly exceeded the federal reimbursement rate, according to the report.

The OIG found a “repeated pattern” of Chavez-DeRemer combining personal and business travel, like adding an official visit to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland to her schedule, despite planning to go to the city, where she has a house, for personal reasons.

The investigation “established that official travel authorities were used on multiple occasions to support travel that also served personal interests,” the report says. Overall, it “concluded that Chavez-DeRemer’s conduct was inconsistent with applicable standards.”

Before serving as Labor secretary, Chavez-DeRemer was elected in 2022 to represent Oregon’s 5th Congressional District in Congress. She only served for one term as she lost her reelection bid in 2024.

During her short tenure in the House, Chavez-DeRemer established herself as one of the most labor-friendly Republicans in Washington. She was one of the few GOP co-sponsors of a bill that would make it easier for workers to unionize.

After Chavez-DeRemer’s departure from the Labor Department, Keith Sonderling was appointed as acting secretary.

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劳工部一项独立调查发现，前劳工部长洛里·查韦斯-德雷默违反了部门规定，在办公室饮酒，并要求员工为她执行私人任务。

该部门监察长办公室周四发布的这份措辞严厉的报告还发现，查韦斯-德雷默在没有适当通知的情况下接受了贵重礼物，将私人旅行和公务旅行混为一谈，并且与她的安保人员中的一名主管存在“不恰当的亲密”关系。

她的一些工作人员，包括她的幕僚长，也被发现有不当行为。

CNN已联系查韦斯-德雷默的律师寻求置评。劳工部发言人表示，该机构“尊重监察长调查的公正性”。

查韦斯-德雷默今年早些时候离开劳工部，转投私营部门。这份报告揭示了这位前部长短暂而动荡的任期。

在她的领导下，作为政府重组联邦政府机构的一部分，该部门人员大幅减少。据《纽约时报》报道，她的丈夫肖恩·德雷默也面临性侵指控，并被禁止进入该机构总部。目前，对肖恩·德雷默的刑事调查已经结束。

报告显示，查韦斯-德雷默曾指示一名助手驾驶部门车辆前往她家，“帮她晾晒衣物、干洗衣服，并整理她的衣服、鞋子和手提包”。此外，她还指示工作人员为她购买酒水和其他个人物品，包括在她出差期间要求一名助手“在她下榻的酒店为她购买葡萄酒”。

监察长表示，根据对证人证词和部门记录的审查，查韦斯-德雷默未如实披露的礼物包括游说者赠送的牛仔竞技表演门票、在路易斯安那州斯普林菲尔德旅行期间获赠的鳄鱼皮钱包，以及在佛罗里达州棕榈滩举行的“美国优先政策研究所”活动期间获赠的两顶牛仔帽。

调查人员仔细审查了她2025年11月前往棕榈滩的行程。此次行程是为了参加在唐纳德·特朗普总统位于海湖庄园举行的一场保守派晚宴。报告显示，她“在一家豪华酒店和水疗中心住了三晚，每晚房价为529美元，不含税”。报告还指出，她此次行程获得了超过2000美元的报销，远远超过了联邦政府规定的报销标准。

监察长办公室发现查韦斯-德雷默经常将私人旅行和公务旅行混为一谈，例如，尽管她计划前往波特兰（她在那里有一套房子）是为了私人原因，但她还是将对波特兰移民和海关执法局的正式访问添加到了她的日程安排中。

报告称，调查“证实，官方旅行授权多次被用于支持兼顾个人利益的旅行”。总体而言，报告“得出结论，查韦斯-德雷默的行为不符合适用标准”。

在担任劳工部长之前，查韦斯-德雷默于2022年当选为俄勒冈州第五国会选区的国会议员。她只任职了一届，在2024年的连任竞选中落败。

在短暂的众议院任期内，查韦斯-德雷默确立了自己作为华盛顿最亲劳工的共和党人之一的地位。她是少数几位共同发起一项旨在简化工人组建工会程序的法案的共和党人之一。

查韦斯-德雷默离开劳工部后，基思·桑德林被任命为代理部长。