Trump continues government purge: Labor Minister resigns, pushed out by scandals, will Kash Patel be next?

Accused in the media for several weeks, under investigation by the ministry’s inspector general, Chavez-DeRemer was under pressure to leave. She was blamed for professional misconduct, including consuming alcohol while on duty and using public funds for private trips. She was also accused of having an extramarital relationship with a colleague, who has since resigned. The minister’s husband and father were also accused of inappropriate behavior with young department employees.

“A great job”

The White House sought to protect Lori Chavez-DeRemer. In January, Donald Trump declared that she was doing “a great job”. It is true that she represented an asset for him. A moderate Republican member of the Oregon Legislature from 2022 to 2024, she had to maneuver to get elected in a mostly Democratic district. Trump even joked about barely considering her 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 activist. She was predisposed to maintaining good relations with the labor world, which could only help Donald Trump score points with that electorate. Her forced withdrawal, six months before the midterm elections, is a blow to the Republican camp. It will be up to her deputy, Keith Sonderling, who will act as interim, to cushion the impact.

Change of course

If a Teamsters Union spokesperson believes that there has never been a more dedicated Labor Secretary to the workers’ cause under a Republican Administration (within a year, she visited workers in all fifty states), Chavez-DeRemer nevertheless made sure to give assurances to her new employer by pursuing a “pro-business” policy, which also provoked discontent. She encouraged deregulation in many sectors, sometimes at the risk of compromising worker safety. She also played a part in the fight against immigration by tracking companies’ recruitment of undocumented workers or monitoring the use of H-1B visas issued to foreigners with “exceptional skills”.

Paranoid and alcoholic

Undoubtedly the White House will not have much time to lament the fate of Lori Chavez-DeRemer. All its attention is probably focused on Kash Patel. A controversial figure from the start (the Senate narrowly approved his nomination by 51 votes to 49, unlike Chavez-DeRemer who had the support of about fifteen Democrats to win with 67 votes to 32), this 46-year-old former lawyer is back in the headlines since the publication on April 17 of an article in the monthly The Atlantic. It depicts the FBI director not only as impulsive and paranoid, but also as a reveler and an alleged alcoholic.

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The addiction Patel is allegedly suffering from often causes him to arrive late at the office, or be absent altogether – the The Atlantic article is titled “The FBI Director is MIA”, for Missing in Action (the term generally used for soldiers missing after a military operation). On one occasion, the magazine reports, the director, intoxicated, had locked himself in, and as he did not respond, the door had to be broken down using material used in SWAT hostage situations, the American equivalent of the GIGN.

Absences that are concerning

The physical or mental absences of the FBI director are increasingly worrying. What would happen, one wonders, if he were not able to fulfill his duties in the event of an attack, for example, at a time when conflict in the Middle East raises concerns about terrorist retaliation? Kash Patel 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 warned.