The Department of Labor is the federal agency charged with enforcing workplace standards and setting the example for ethical conduct across America’s workforces. In the Trump administration, however, it is now engulfed in a widening ethics crisis.
Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer is under investigation over allegations of misconduct, fraud and an “alcohol stash” found in her office, while her husband, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, has been banned from the department’s headquarters following allegations that he sexually harassed at least one female employee. (Dr. DeRemer has called the allegations “false.”)
Chavez-DeRemer is, specifically, facing claims that she engaged in an improper relationship with a member of her security detail. Additionally, The New York Times reported that formal complaints were filed with the department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) alleging that her top aides “pressur[ed] staff to direct the awarding of department grants to benefit the secretary’s political career and elevate her standing with donors and consultants.” According to NBC News, the secretary’s chief of staff and his deputy allegedly engaged in “travel fraud” by setting up professional events as an excuse for personal travel. (These aides, Chief of Staff Jihun Han and Deputy Chief of Staff Rebecca Wright, were placed on leave in January and, per The New York Post, each resigned Monday night after being told by the White House to jump—or be pushed out.) The Post has reported that investigators uncovered evidence of a “toxic” workplace, departmental waste and that Chavez-DeRemer took subordinates to a strip club while on a government trip.
Now, wait for it: The man responsible for investigating whether Chavez-DeRemer used taxpayer dollars to further an inappropriate relationship was himself accused of using taxpayer dollars to further an inappropriate relationship. That man is Anthony D’Esposito, the Labor Department’s Inspector General—a partisan actor who is deeply compromised and lacks the credibility required for such a role.
When D’Esposito was a congressman—he served a single term representing a district on New York’s Long Island, before losing re-election in 2024—The New York Times reported that he may have violated House ethics rules by hiring his mistress and his fiancée’s daughter at his district office. D’Esposito denied the charges, and said of his conduct that “there was nothing done that was not ethical.”
Before entering politics, D’Esposito worked as an NYPD detective and racked up an impressive number of ethical complaints, including internal affairs probes, at least one disciplinary action, and lawsuits that the City settled for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
While all that may be embarrassing, it is not necessarily disqualifying. What should be disqualifying, however, is that D’Esposito served alongside Chavez-DeRemer, and reportedly considers her a friend. A personal relationship with a subject of an OIG investigation creates an inherent conflict of interest; any responsible IG would immediately recuse themselves from the case. As a former inspector general and the former chair of the Council of Inspectors General, it would be unthinkable to lead an investigation into a friend.
(The New York Times has reported that D’Esposito’s investigation has “expanded” from its initial areas of focus to assess “whether grants were improperly directed.”)
And things get worse still—farcical, even. D’Esposito is reportedly planning to run for his old seat in Congress. As a Republican candidate in a purple distict, he almost certainly would need the president’s support to win that race. That will put real or apparent pressure on D’Esposito to curry favor with Trump—who, yes, had nominated him to the IG role he now holds—to secure his endorsement. No Republican candidate in their right mind would risk alienating their party’s most influential figure.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt recently said that the president “is aware of the internal investigation” at the Labor Department and he “stands by the secretary.” In light of D’Esposito’s clear interest in currying favor with the President, will he put a thumb on the scale in favor of Secretary Chavez-DeRemer to avoid angering the president? Can the American public trust he will put his own interests aside and investigate the serious matter in a fair and objective manner?
Even the appearance of a conflict of interest undermines the credibility of an investigation. One of the core “quality standards” by which IG investigations are expected to adhere to states that, “In all matters relating to investigative work, the investigative organization must be independent and free, both in fact and appearance, from impairments to independence…. This standard places upon OIGs and investigators the responsibility for maintaining independence so that decisions used in obtaining evidence, conducting interviews, and making recommendations will be impartial and viewed as impartial by knowledgeable third parties.”
And one of the three “impairments of independence” is personal relationships.
Inspectors general should be able to conduct their oversight without fear or favor. This means investigations and audits must follow the evidence and report the facts, regardless of who benefits. IGs should never favor one side or the other, and they don’t pull punches out of concern for the ramifications. Instead, however, D’Esposito will apparently be operating with both fear and favor.
This is not a minor lapse in optics—it is a fundamental breakdown of independent government oversight. The American public should expect a system that is impartial, credible, and free from political entanglements, and this falls far short of that standard.
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