The Labor Department

While Kristi (now fired), Patel, Pete, Stephen, Pam, JD and Donny get the headlines other appointees hide behind their screen of misdeeds and commit their own.

The White House quietly removed Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s two top aides at the Labor Department the White House yesterday told her two top aides — chief of staff Jihun Han and deputy secretary Rebecca Wright — to resign or be fired.

But this might be a diversion – you know the trump MO - Chavez-DeRemer is facing allegations of drinking during the workday in her office. But this being the trump administration you know there would be more – she is accused taking subordinates to an Oregon strip club while on an official trip. How could that be – someone working for the costar of the Trump-Epstein files going to a strip club!

Of course, all good things come in threes, so she is also suspected of having an affair with a member of her security team. Donny must be so proud. committing “travel fraud” by having her chief of staff and deputy chief of staff “make up” official trips to destinations where Chavez-DeRemer can spend time with family or friends on the taxpayers’ dime. This was reported by the New York Post which in January said “In January, unnamed sources described Chavez-DeRemer as the “boss from hell,” saying she demanded staffers run personal errands for her or perform other menial tasks unrelated to their government jobs.” (New York Post)

POLITICO reported that Melissa Robey had stepped into a larger role after Chavez-DeRemer’s chief of staff and deputy chief of staff were placed on leave in early January near the outset of the investigation. They decided to resign earlier this week amid pressure from the White House, which has stood by the Labor secretary since the scandal broke. Amazing, but now there is another labor shortage at the Department because NYT reported that MS Robey has been sidelined amid an expanding internal investigation of alleged misconduct at the top levels of the department, according to two current agency officials.

But having learned from the BOSS we now find the Labor Secretary’s husband is barred from the department’s headquarters after at least two female staff members told officials that he had sexually assaulted them. (NYT)

Almost like Mar-a-Lago and Jeffery Epstein’s island, “The widening misconduct scandal at the Labor Department has forced several aides and members of the security staff in Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s inner circle onto administrative and investigative leave.” (NYT)

But even while they are having so much fun, they have also proposed rolling back over 60 workplace safety rules, including reducing oversight for mine safety, loosening restrictions on construction site hazards, and removing protections for migrant farmworkers.

Internal directives have instructed attorneys to prioritize enforcement in non-union workplaces, potentially reducing federal scrutiny and leaving unions to handle labor disputes.

A proposed February 2026 rule moves away from the Biden-era “totality-of-the-circumstances” framework to a stricter “economic reality” test, making it easier to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees. Critics argue this reduces worker benefits and protections. The DOL has also changed the rules allowing employers to underpay people with disabilities.

In just a few months, the Trump administration has demonstrated its willingness to abandon workers and undermine their wages and working conditions. (Economic Policy Institute)

U.S. employers added just 181,000 jobs last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Wednesday. That was 69 percent fewer jobs than its initial estimate of 584,000. The agency also lowered its estimate of job growth in 2024 by nearly 28 percent. And Federal Reserve chair Jerome H. Powell, said economists at the central bank estimated that the B.L.S. had been overstating employment gains by about 60,000 jobs per month — a figure that, if accurate, would suggest that employers were cutting payrolls for much of last year. No wonder Donny wants to fire Jerome! He does not like people to say things that make him look bad, even when they are true.

Because we all know how trump likes statistics – the ones produced by his lackey’s – not the real ones. The Inspector General initiated a review of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) regarding challenges in collecting producer and consumer price indices and reporting monthly employment data. Trump wants only good news!

Ahead of the Labor Department’s scheduled release of January payroll and unemployment data later this morning, Trump adviser Peter Navarro told Fox Business that Americans should “revise our expectations down significantly for what a monthly job number should look like.” In other words – believe what we tell you, not what you see.

Just like the Trump Epstein Files, believe what Donald says, not what you read, see, and hear. That is the message of the administration.