After the interior and justice ministers, the White House confirmed the dismissal of the labor minister. The revelations about the slips of the FBI director, Kash Patel, weaken his position, writes Les Echos.
Third replacement: Trump administration Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer was fired from the government on Monday. Her departure joins those of Justice Minister Pam Bondi and Interior Minister Kristi Noem, both fired in the past two months. After maintaining his original team for over a year, Donald Trump is forced to clean up.
The spectacular unpopularity of the crackdown on undocumented immigrants in American cities cost Kristi Noem her job. The chaotic handling of the Epstein affair led to Pam Bondi's downfall. In the case of Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Donald Trump finally intervened in the face of repeated allegations of asset misappropriation and harassment.
FBI director in trouble
The minister was accused, among other things, of having an affair with a member of her security team, of keeping a stash of alcohol in her office and of using public funds for personal travel. Her father and husband also allegedly contacted several young women who worked in the minister's office, to the point where her husband's access to the ministry was banned after he was accused of sexual harassment.
The revelations in the American press increased the pressure on Lori Chavez-DeRemer, while, in parallel, some elected Republicans in the Congress began to shake in the face of the avalanche of scandals. An internal investigation by the general inspector of the Ministry of Labor risked, moreover, to reveal new compromising details.
“This government is collapsing,” the Democratic Party reacted to X. Departures are not always replaced. Donald Trump quickly appointed Senator Markwayne Mullin to head the Department of the Interior, but at Justice Department Deputy Todd Blanche, a former lawyer for the president, effectively heads the institution. Republicans' fragile majority in the Senate limits Donald Trump's options, and in the absence of official appointments, internal rivalries are intensifying.
The successive departures of government members in recent weeks have weakened the administration. Ministers now know they can be kicked out of the White House at the first failure. FBI Director Kash Patel thus panicked in early April after failing to log into government portals. He was convinced he had been fired by Donald Trump without warning, The Atlantic reported last week in a detailed report on the FBI director's “chaotic behavior.”
Unpopularity record
Kash Patel's penchant for heavy-drinking parties disrupted the operation of the federal agency. Members of his security team had to wake him up repeatedly, even considering using a battering ram to get in when he was unresponsive. The morning briefings were moved to later in the day. On weekends, he likes to go to Las Vegas to relax. Kash Patel “is often absent or untraceable, delaying the making of urgent decisions needed to advance investigations,” the magazine said.
The FBI director criticized an article “full of false and obviously fabricated allegations” and filed a defamation suit. Taking up a strategy used by Donald Trump himself after returning to power, he is seeking $250 million in damages from the publication. “If you want to attack my reputation, go ahead. I'm waiting for you. We'll see each other in court,” he insisted, in an intervention on Fox News.
Democrats, in turn, immediately used these new revelations to call for Kash Patel's resignation. “Americans deserve a stable and SOBER leader at the helm of the FBI,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday. “Every day he remains in office is a national security risk,” he wrote on X.
The “whirlwind” of ministerial changes could continue as mid-term elections approach in early November. Since the start of the Iran war, Donald Trump has reached new records of unpopularity, falling below the lowest level of his first term. Fewer than 40 percent of Americans say they approve of his actions, according to a New York Times poll. (Material produced with the support of Rador Radio Romania)
