WASHINGTON — A sprawling internal investigation into Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer has uncovered an alcohol “stash” in her Washington, DC, office — and evidence she took subordinates to a strip club while on an official departmental trip, according to five sources familiar with the probe.
The investigation has also confirmed that rumors the secretary pursued an “inappropriate” relationship with an underling were discussed internally months ago and dismissed by her chief of staff Jihun Han — who was put on leave Monday along with his deputy Rebecca Wright, three of the sources affirmed.
The Post first exposed a bombshell complaint that alleged Chavez-DeRemer, 57, had also committed “travel fraud” by having Han and Wright “make up” official trips, was drinking in her office during the workday and enabled a hostile work environment — with her top aides belittling and bullying staffers.
The complaint has sparked at least a dozen interviews so far with government officials and staff — an indication of the expansiveness of the probe.
The interviews have also uncovered a previously unreported incident involving Chavez-DeRemer allegedly taking subordinates to an Oregon strip club in April 2025, per three of those sources and records reviewed by The Post.
The April 18 visit to the club, Angels PDX, outside of Portland came at the tail end of a five-day trip to meet with the state’s Democratic governor Tina Kotek, a CEO of a truck manufacturing company, and to tour an Intel chip center and view an “ironworker project,” official travel schedules show.
Travel vouchers show taxpayers forked over $2,890.06 in total for the secretary’s Oregon trip, with costs of $1,324.21 for transportation, $722 for lodging, $655 for meals and $188.35 for miscellaneous expenses.
“Secretary Chavez-DeRemer firmly denies any allegations of wrongdoing. Her utmost priority remains to advance President Trump’s agenda by continuing her hard and successful work for the betterment of the American people,” said her attorney, Dr. Nick Oberheiden, in a statement.
The Labor Department inspector general’s office, helmed by former New York GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, is seeking all potential evidence — including video footage — about at least five purported meet-ups between the married mother-of-two and her alleged paramour at the secretary’s DC apartment and a Las Vegas hotel.
The subordinate in the alleged “inappropriate” relationship with the secretary, who did not respond to a request for comment, has since been placed on administrative leave, sources said.
“The Department will not comment on internal or personnel matters,” a DOL spokesperson said in a statement Friday. “The Secretary remains focused on carrying out the Department’s mission and supporting American workers.”
The White House directed The Post to a statement from press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday. “I have spoken to the president about that report regarding the secretary,” she told reporters during the daily briefing.
“He’s aware of the internal investigation, and he stands by the secretary, and he thinks that she’s doing a tremendous job at the Department of Labor on behalf of American workers,” Leavitt added.
The allegations against the secretary and her aides were contained in a complaint filed last month with the DOL’s Office of Inspector General, which was first reported by The Post Jan. 9.
“There’s not an ounce of truth to this, and anyone who knows my wife would know that,” Chavez-DeRemer’s husband, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, previously said of the complaint’s allegations in a statement.
The IG’s office has not confirmed or denied the existence or non-existence of an investigation.
So far, the interviews have focused on Han and Wright, who are said to have provided “cover” for the secretary’s conduct, insiders said. Neither responded to a request for comment.
The decision to put the pair on leave was made in part because they continued to exert improper influence over junior staff, even after the investigation began, The Post understands.
Han had already leaned on staffers to silence questions about Chavez-DeRemer’s rumored affair a few months ago, instructing aides to “leave it alone,” according to sources and the IG complaint.
The chief of staff and deputy chief of staff have also been accused since the probe started of misleading the White House about their and the secretary’s conduct — with Wright being outed for having openly exhibited disdain for President Trump.
“We don’t care how POTUS looks,” she told staff last year, according to two sources, including a current DOL employee, “and we don’t care what the White House tells us to do. We only care that the secretary looks good.”
Chavez-DeRemer was accused in the complaint of having Han and Wright “make up” official trips, finding a conference or other event to attend so she had an excuse to visit her family members or travel for pleasure to favored destinations like Nevada.
The secretary went to the Red Rocks Casino Resort and Spa in Vegas at least four times last year — and twice with her alleged affair partner in the department, per the complaint and travel schedules.
On one of those four visits, which was listed as a “personal” trip in travel schedules, the labor boss celebrated her niece’s 40th birthday party at the hotel while the federal government was shut down in late October, according to sources, photos and videos obtained by The Post.
Three other official visits to Sin City were for a Teamsters’ conference in April, a carpenters’ union conference in August and an agricultural labor conference in December, schedules show.
On another work trip in December, which her schedule shows was to speak at an America First Policy Institute event in Palm Beach, Fla., Chavez-DeRemer was warned by ethics officials that she had to pay her own way for some of it, according to the complaint.
Chavez-DeRemer and Wright flouted this by scheduling an “official” dinner with “just the two of them,” according to the complaint — accusations which the IG investigation has since confirmed, sources said.
Despite the Florida trip lasting five days, schedules show, the labor secretary had just one speaking engagement at a luncheon.
A “stash” of champagne and other liquor cited in the complaint was also uncovered by investigators in the two women’s offices this week, sources added.
Staff have revealed amid the internal investigation that they were told to remove items from the secretary’s calendar that ethics lawyers might not approve of — and just put the trips on her personal schedule.
The secretary was also accused of having staff run personal errands while on the government dole.
Chavez-DeRemer set a goal of visiting all 50 states on official trips as part of an “America at Work” listening tour in 2025 — but only went to around three dozen. She has faulted the 43-day government shutdown in October and November for derailing that project.
Of her 53 official trips as secretary, Chavez-DeRemer has spent 10 either in Nevada or locations where she has family ties — including Oregon, her home state; Arizona, where she and her anesthesiologist husband have a home; and Michigan, where her daughter lives.
