Trump Weighs More Cabinet Changes After Bondi Ouster

President Donald Trump has expressed frustration and disappointment with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer — and is pondering making additional changes to his Cabinet.

"He's very angry and he's going to be moving people," an administration official familiar with the dynamics told POLITICO. That official and three other people with knowledge of Trump’s thinking around his Cabinet were granted anonymity to discuss the unresolved personnel issues.

The additional potential moves follow the ouster of Attorney General Pam Bondi Thursday and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last month.

No final decisions have been made on Chavez-DeRemer and Lutnick — and Trump has contemplated firing people and then backed off before.

Should Trump proceed with a larger set of Cabinet changes, it could represent a major attempted reset for an administration confronting an ominous political landscape.

The potential high-level shuffling, a second, senior official said, is focused on Cabinet officials Trump feels have “underperformed or who have generated too much negative attention.”

In a statement, Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said Chavez-DeRemer and Lutnick are “both doing a great job standing up for American workers, and they continue to have President Trump’s full support.”

The second official suggested that Chavez-DeRemer’s future is under discussion. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is also on “thin ice,” the senior White House official said. However, the official cautioned that the president has “pondered and moved off” the idea of removing him before and has yet to go through with it.

But the White House also sees opportunity to gain ground on its most crucial electoral issue by further shuffling the Cabinet.

The first administration official suggested ousting Lutnick would help the president “be able to say ‘I’m making changes on the economy.’”

The Labor Department directed a request for comment to the White House. The Commerce Department did not return a request for comment.

The potential additional departures, along with Noem and Bondi, would mark the most substantive remake of the Trump Cabinet that has been remarkably stable over the last 15 months, particularly compared with the volatility of the president’s first term.

And they’d be made with an eye toward retaining Republican dominance across Washignton in November.

A fourth person who works closely with the White House said house-clearing is on Trump’s mind over fears that executive appointments may be hard to confirm next year — especially if Democrats gain more seats in the midterm elections.

Chavez-DeRemer has been under investigation by the Labor Department’s inspector general for allegations that include drinking alcohol while working and having an affair with a security officer. In addition, the inspector general is probing whether her staffers inappropriately used official events as a way to facilitate her personal travel.

Chavez-DeRemer has denied any wrongdoing, and the White House has previously defended her.

Lutnick’s potential demise has been a perennial Washington parlor game. Though a long-time friend of Trump, the Wall Street power broker has few allies beyond the president and has been long rumored to be on the chopping block. Considered an abrasive, polarizing figure by his critics, the Commerce secretary has earned a reputation for pitching half-baked ideas to the president that others have to come in later and clean up after.

Trump, too, has voiced his own frustrations over Lutnick’s family benefiting from their ties to the administration, POLITICO reported in February. (Cantor Fitzgerald, where Lutnick’s sons work, has denied any conflicts of interest, even as it acknowledged its “record year.”)

Lutnick also faced bipartisan calls to resign earlier this year when his name surfaced in the Epstein files, even as many of the Commerce secretary’s foes shrugged at the revelations. Lutnick has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein’s crimes.

Trump met with Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, on Tuesday to discuss last year’s California wildfires and the potential of his stepping into Bondi’s role, according to a fifth person close to the White House who is familiar with discussions.

Trump on Thursday named Todd Blanche to the role of acting attorney general, and a third administration official called Blanche “the lead horse.”

Eli Stokols, Nick Niedzwiadek and Ben Johansen contributed to this report.