President Donald Trump has expressed frustration and disappointment with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer — and is pondering making additional changes to his Cabinet.
“He’s very angry and he’s going to be moving people,” an administration official familiar with the dynamics told POLITICO. That official and three other people with knowledge of Trump’s thinking around his Cabinet were granted anonymity to discuss the unresolved personnel issues.
The additional potential moves follow the ouster of Attorney General Pam Bondi Thursday and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last month.
No final decisions have been made on Chavez-DeRemer and Lutnick — and Trump has contemplated firing people and then backed off before.
Should Trump proceed with a larger set of Cabinet changes, it could represent a major attempted reset for an administration confronting an ominous political landscape.
The potential high-level shuffling, a second, senior official said, is focused on Cabinet officials Trump feels have “underperformed or who have generated too much negative attention.”
In a statement, Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said Chavez-DeRemer and Lutnick are “both doing a great job standing up for American workers, and they continue to have President Trump’s full support.”
A third White House official reached out to POLITICO on behalf of Lutnick saying they hadn’t heard anyone suggest changes at the Commerce Department. “Everyone is thrilled with the job Howard has done — on trade deals, pharmaceuticals, Japan, tariffs, all of it….He’s also taken a hard line on Canada from day one, which POTUS appreciates.”
But the second White House official said that Lutnick is on “thin ice.” However, that official cautioned the president has “pondered and moved off” the idea of removing him before and has yet to go through with it.
