Trump Weighs More Cabinet Firings, Seeks to Avoid Massive Shake-up

With two Cabinet secretaries fired in less than a month, President Donald Trump is weighing whether to extend the purge to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, though he has signaled to advisers that he wants to stop short of a wholesale shake-up of his administration.

Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 3, roughly four weeks after dismissing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in early March. Noem's undoing came after what sources described as dismal performances at two congressional hearings that exhausted Trump's patience. Bondi's ouster followed mounting frustration over her management of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and what Trump viewed as her failure to prosecute his political adversaries. He named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting attorney general and posted on Truth Social that Bondi was a "Great American Patriot and a loyal friend" who had done a "tremendous job." Bondi had separately damaged her credibility in February 2025 by telling Fox News that an Epstein client list was "sitting on my desk right now to review," a claim the Justice Department later flatly contradicted.

Lutnick's vulnerability stems from his own Epstein entanglement. In a February 10, 2026 interview, the Commerce Secretary acknowledged visiting Epstein's private island during a family vacation while maintaining he had "no personal relationship" with the convicted sex offender. The admission compounded damage he had already inflicted on himself in October 2025, when he called Epstein "the greatest blackmailer ever" in a public interview, a characterization that directly contradicted the Justice Department and FBI's July 2025 conclusion that there was "no credible evidence" Epstein had blackmailed prominent individuals or maintained a client list. Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California wrote on X that "Secretary Howard Lutnick lied to the country about his ties to Epstein," and House Oversight Democrats sent Lutnick a formal letter demanding answers. Spokespeople for Lutnick did not return comment requests.

Chavez-DeRemer faces a separate but equally damaging set of problems. The Oregon lawmaker and daughter of a Teamster, confirmed by the Senate on March 10, 2025 with the backing of Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien, became the subject of an internal complaint in January 2026 alleging she drank alcohol in the workplace, pursued an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, and directed staff to run personal errands on her behalf. The Labor Department's inspector general opened a formal investigation, and two senior aides, including her chief of staff, resigned amid the probe. Her husband has since been banned from department headquarters following sexual assault allegations made by at least two agency staffers.

Despite earlier speculation, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appears to be on firmer ground. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said Trump has "total confidence" in Gabbard and dismissed reports of her potential removal as "totally fake news." White House spokesman Davis Ingle extended that defense more broadly, saying Gabbard, Lutnick, and Chavez-DeRemer were "tirelessly implementing the President's agenda and achieving tremendous results."

The White House's public posture notwithstanding, a person familiar with Trump's thinking described him as "mulling" further changes with no final decisions made. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has emerged as the key internal brake on a broader purge, pushing the view that Cabinet-turnover headlines should not define the administration's remaining months. Should Trump move against both Lutnick and Chavez-DeRemer, it would mean four Cabinet-level firings within roughly a single month, a pace of turnover without parallel in modern presidential history and one that would force agency leadership questions across trade, labor regulation, and law enforcement simultaneously.