Cop Vs. Cabinet Secretary: The Saga Gripping The Labor Department

President Donald Trump is staring down the prospect of filling another hole in his Cabinet — and one of his own appointees may end up forcing the issue.

Anthony D’Esposito, who leads the Labor Department’s in-house watchdog, has spent this year investigating damaging allegations against agency Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and her closest aides, a probe that has already prompted multiple people to resign from the agency.

Dozens of DOL staffers have spoken with D’Esposito’s office since he opened the internal inquiry in January, according to two department officials who were granted anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. Investigators are also poring over information pulled from travel records, department documents and subpoenas issued to outside parties, including hotels where Chavez-DeRemer stayed during official travel. The Labor secretary has denied wrongdoing.

The alleged culture in the secretary’s office and the inspector general’s digging has created an awkward dance for the two Trump appointees. That could prompt Chavez-DeRemer’s exit as the White House juggles multiple high-level vacancies and crises ahead of the midterms. A messy departure would also risk muddying the White House’s pro-worker campaign messaging and its efforts to stave off criticism of the president’s stewardship of the economy.

“It is such a fucking distraction,” said one of the DOL officials, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal dynamics.

The White House has allowed the saga between an ex-cop from Long Island and a Cabinet secretary the president has jokingly described as a Democrat to play out, even as leaks from the investigation have led to unflatteringheadlines. The investigation is nearing a close, though it is unclear exactly how much longer it will continue. Chavez-DeRemer has said she will cooperate and is expected to meet with investigators.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment on whether the president continues to have faith in the Labor secretary. Chavez-DeRemer’s personal attorney declined to comment.

DOL spokesperson Courtney Parella declined to comment on the investigation, but she said the agency “continues to deliver on the President’s agenda and advance major results for American workers.”

“Any suggestion that the Department’s work has been slowed or distracted is not accurate,” Parella said in a statement.

Trump has begun mulling whether to remove Chavez-DeRemer and other top officials in recent weeks, and the outcome of D’Esposito’s investigation could force the White House’s hand. Several people who have come under scrutiny during the investigation have complained about how D’Esposito’s office is handling the matter and accused the office of leaking information to the media.

Meanwhile D’Esposito — a retired New York Police Department detective and former congress member whose single House term overlapped with Chavez-DeRemer’s — is facing deep suspicion from Democrats and government ethics groups that he will pull punches with his findings. But key witnesses are eluding investigators, and there are other limitations that may make it impossible for the investigation to reach a conclusion that satisfies everyone.

“Americans need to know that the DOL’s watchdog is acting impartially, especially as the agency faces its own scandals, and right now there are real doubts about that,” said Donald Sherman, the head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed an ethics complaint against D’Esposito this month to the council that oversees federal IGs.

D’Esposito has dismissed CREW and other critics as “political hacks” and said he’s focused on carrying out the president’s agenda. And his allies are downplaying the pressure he faces.

“He’s been doing a pretty fair job,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis(R-N.Y.). “Lori was one of his very good friends here, and he’s been able to do his job and hold her agency accountable.”

D’Esposito has positioned himself as a defender of taxpayer money, appearing coast to coast to announce busts with federal prosecutors and leading Trump administration figures like Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz. The White House has rewarded the inspector general with a spot on an anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance, a role that D’Esposito referenced in explaining his decision to forgo a bid to reclaim his House seat.

D’Esposito said people should judge him and other Trump-appointed IGs “by results, not rhetoric.”

“Suggesting investigators lose their independence because of who signed an appointment insults the professionals who follow the facts and the money wherever they lead,” he said in a statement.

D’Esposito reportedly angled for other high-level law enforcement posts during the presidential transition, including at the Drug Enforcement Administration, before the White House settled on placing him at DOL.

Like D’Esposito, Chavez-DeRemer was also out of a job after losing reelection in 2024, and she landed at DOL with the strong support of the Teamsters union as Trump looked to capitalize on his gains with working-class voters and rank-and-file union members.

Several of the allegations against Chavez-DeRemer and her inner circle pertain to alleged misuse of government resources, ranging from scheduling official events to subsidize her personal travel plans to allegedly drinking on the job and directing staffers to run errands.

A spokesperson for the IG’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the status of the investigation.

But there may be questions that the IG’s report leaves unanswered, as some of the people at the center of the firestorm are now out of its reach.

Chavez-DeRemer’s chief of staff and deputy chief of staff resigned under pressure from the White House without meeting with the IG’s office. A member of Chavez-DeRemer’s security team who was under scrutiny amid allegations that he was involved in an extramarital relationship with the Labor secretary also quit, citing his refusal to participate in a “politically motivated investigation.” The Trump administration fired a fourth DOL official shortly after investigators pressed her on travel expenses related to events scheduled for the secretary.

The IG’s office generally has no authority over former employees. That lack of authority also extends to those who do not work for the department, such as the Labor secretary’s husband, who was banned from DOL headquarters earlier this year after staffers reported he touched them inappropriately.

DeRemer has denied the allegations through an attorney, and D.C. law enforcement looked into one alleged incident but closed the case without filing charges. His attorney, James Bell, did not respond to a request for comment.

Inspectors general are typically viewed as nonpartisan and independent from the agencies they oversee, but D’Esposito has aligned himself with the administration’s messaging and with its sharp-elbow style after Trump fired Labor’s previous inspector general and other agencies’ watchdogs last year.

It is unusual for a former elected official to serve as an inspector general — typically a low-profile bureaucrat focused on rooting out wasteful spending, assessing agency initiatives and investigating internal misconduct — and D’Esposito has faced questions about his political ambitions since he was nominated.

“It diminishes their credibility to the public if you’re putting in place political allies of Donald Trump, as opposed to really independent investigators who really don’t care where the information leads, they’ll follow it to the end,” Doug Pasternak of the watchdog group Public Citizen told POLITICO.

On Tuesday, local Republican leaders on Long Island backed Hempstead tax receiver Jeanine Driscoll, putting to rest the possibility that D’Esposito would once again face off against Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.), who defeated him in 2024 after D’Esposito beat her two years earlier.

“Anthony D’Esposito disgraced himself in Congress and made it clear he can’t be trusted to hold any position of authority,” Gillen’s campaign said in a statement.