Accused in the media for several weeks, under investigation by the ministry’s inspector general, Chavez-DeRemer was backed into a corner. Misconduct was attributed to her, including consuming alcohol while on duty and using public funds for private trips. She was also accused of having an extramarital affair with a colleague, who has since resigned. The minister’s husband and father are also accused of inappropriate behavior with young department employees.
“A great job”
The White House made efforts to protect Lori Chavez-DeRemer. As recently as January, Donald Trump stated that she was doing “a great job.” It is true that she was an asset to him. A potential U.S. Representative from Oregon from 2022 to 2024, this moderate Republican had to navigate to get elected in a predominantly Democratic district. Trump even sarcastically referred to her as a Democrat when the president of the influential Teamsters union, Sean O’Brien, recommended her to lead the Labor Department.
Chavez-DeRemer is the daughter of a Teamsters Union activist. Therefore, she was predisposed to maintaining good relations with the labor world, which could only help Donald Trump gain points in 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 be in charge, to mitigate the impact.
Change of course
If a Teamsters Union spokesman believes 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 of the Union), Chavez-DeRemer made sure to give her new employer reassurance by pursuing a “pro-business” policy, which also sparked discontent. She thus encouraged deregulation in many sectors, sometimes risking compromising worker safety. And she played a role in the fight against immigration by tracking down companies hiring illegal immigrants or monitoring the use of H-1B visas issued to foreigners with “exceptional skills.”
Paranoid and alcoholic
The White House probably won’t have much time to lament Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s fate. All its attention must likely be focused on that of Kash Patel. A polarizing figure (the Senate narrowly approved his nomination with 51 votes against 49, unlike Chavez-DeRemer who received support from about fifteen Democrats to win with 67 votes against 32), this 46-year-old former lawyer has once again made headlines since an article in The Atlantic was published on April 17. It portrays the FBI director not only as impulsive and paranoid, but also as a partygoer and inveterate alcoholic.
Does American intelligence face a threat? The former FBI and CIA director is worried: “A dangerous precedent.”
Patel’s alleged addiction is such that he would frequently arrive late to the office, if he even showed up at all – The Atlantic article is titled “The FBI Director is MIA,” for “Missing in Action” (the term usually used for soldiers missing in action after a military operation). On one occasion, the magazine reports, the director, drunk, had locked himself in, and since he didn’t respond, the door had to be broken down with SWAT material used in hostage situations by the American equivalent of the GIGN.
Alarming absences
The physical or mental absences of the FBI director are increasingly worrisome. What would happen, it is asked, if he was unable to fulfill his responsibilities in the event of an attack, for example, when conflict in the Middle East raises concerns about terrorist reprisals? Kash Patel has reacted by filing a defamation lawsuit – he is claiming $250 million in damages and interests. The Atlantic, on its part, reports an anecdote, confirmed by nine witnesses. On April 10, the FBI director supposedly succumbed to panic because he couldn’t turn on his computer. He thought he had been fired by the White House without any warning.
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