Shawn DeRemer, husband of Lori Chavez-DeRemer, U.S. President Trump’s nominee to be secretary of labor, sits, on the day Chavez-DeRemer testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., Feb. 19, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
At least two female staffers have alleged that they were sexually assaulted at the Labor Department building by the husband of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, MS Now confirmed on Thursday night.
Chavez-DeRemer’s husband, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, has not been criminally charged, but has been barred from the Labor Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., after the women detailed their claims to investigators, MS Now confirmed.
The New York Times first reported the situation on Thursday, citing people familiar with the situation and a police report.
“This is an active investigation by MPD’s Sexual Assault Unit,” a Washington Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson told CNBC when contacted about the Times’ account of one accuser filing a police report in late January. “We cannot confirm the names of potential suspects or witnesses.
The women said Dr. DeRemer, who is an anesthesiologist in Portland, Oregon, “had touched them inappropriately at the Labor Department’s building on Constitution Avenue,” according to the Times.
“One of the incidents, during working hours on the morning of Dec. 18, was recorded on office security cameras,” the Times reported, citing people familiar with the case.
“The video showed Dr. DeRemer giving one of the women an extended embrace, and was reviewed as part of a criminal investigation, one of the people said.
A source who spoke with MS Now said in that incident, Dr. DeRemer is seen giving that woman a hug that went on for too long and turned “creepy,” according to that news outlet.
The Labor Department’s inspector general, an internal watchdog, is investigating the situation, according to The Times. The paper also reported that Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department on Jan. 24 filed a report about forced sexual contact at the department in December.
CNBC obtained a public copy of that police report, which says, “The complainant reported a sexual contact against her will” during an incident at 11:30 a.m. ET on Dec. 18 at the Department of Labor building.
The complainant’s name was not given in the public copy of the report, nor was the name of the alleged assailant.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
The inspector general’s office would not confirm or deny it was conducting an investigation when contacted by CNBC.
Dr. DeRemer, the Labor Department, the Police Department and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CNBC.
The Times in late January reported that a member of Secretary Chavez-DeRemer’s security detail with whom she had been accused of having a romantic relationship, had been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the inspector general.
The Labor Department’s social media account in January posted a video that featured a slideshow of artworks depicting glorified scenes of American history.
The caption above that video said, “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage. Remember who you are, American.”
Social media users noted similarities between the Labor Department’s post and a Nazi Party slogan.
The slogan “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer,” which the U.S. Holocaust Museum notes was used by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party, translates to “One People, One Country, One Leader.”
