Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer ordered a reluctant member of her security detail to drop cash on a “partially nude” dancer during an off-the-record visit to an Oregon strip club, according to a newly released Inspector General report.
Chavez-DeRemer, 58, resigned from her post in April following allegations that she had maintained an inappropriate relationship with a member of her security team.
The Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General released its report Thursday, confirming what investigators described as an “inappropriately close and unprofessional” relationship between the married former secretary and an Assistant Special Agent in Charge, identified in the report as “ASAIC 1.”
Investigators accused Chavez-DeRemer of committing “multiple violations” of department policy but said they had not gathered enough direct evidence to determine that the pair had engaged in a romantic or sexual relationship.
“The OIG did not conclude that the direct evidence reviewed as part of this investigation was sufficient to establish that Chavez-DeRemer and ASAIC 1 engaged in a romantic or sexual relationship,” the report stated.
Both Chavez-DeRemer and the assistant special agent later resigned from federal service.
The report also detailed an April 2025 visit to an Oregon strip club, previously identified by the New York Post as Angels PDX near Portland. According to the inspector general, Chavez-DeRemer instructed her limousine driver to enter the club with her.
Once inside, the former secretary allegedly took money from her purse and directed the driver to hand it to a performer. The driver was uncomfortable with the request and turned to the assistant special agent for guidance.
However, the assistant special agent reportedly ordered him to follow Chavez-DeRemer’s instructions.
“Chavez-DeRemer then took additional money from her purse and asked the agent to drop the bills one by one onto the partially nude woman,” the report said.
The agent again hesitated and sought help from the assistant special agent, who once more told him to comply with the secretary’s demands. According to investigators, the agent ultimately followed the instruction “against his wishes.”
The inspector general’s findings also described Chavez-DeRemer’s approach to selecting members of her protective detail.
She allegedly rejected agents she considered “too old, physically unfit, overly rule-bound, or ‘too MAGA,’” according to the report.
Her reported habit of excluding certain personnel eventually created staffing problems for the agency. Investigators said the repeated rejections reached a point where they “complicated” the department’s ability to assign enough agents to Chavez-DeRemer’s security detail.
The findings add new details to the controversy that surrounded Chavez-DeRemer before her departure from the Trump administration. The report documented policy violations and unprofessional conduct while stopping short of concluding that she and the assistant special agent had maintained a romantic or sexual relationship.
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