Podcast · thebulwark.com
Bulwark Takes
The Bulwark
The news cycle doesn’t slow down, and neither does The Bulwark. Bulwark Takes brings you bite-sized takes on the news of the day from the entire Bulwark team, including Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and Bill Kristol, and more.
138 claims
True90% confidence8 sourcesSep 5, 2026Lori Chavez-DeRemer visited an establishment featuring partially nude dancers during her April 2025 trip to Oregon.Said by AMultiple independent tier1 and news sources report the DOL Inspector General report stating that during her April 15-20, 2025 personal travel to Oregon, Chavez-DeRemer requested an off-the-record stop at an establishment featuring partially nude dancers, and the claim's core assertion matches this. The claim is a faithful paraphrase of the passage; the report's findings are the IG's allegations, but the claim only asserts the visit occurred as the report describes, which the sources report consistently.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True70% confidence5 sourcesSep 5, 2026Rebecca Wright, Deputy Chief of Staff to Lori Chavez-DeRemer, relocated an employee's desk because she did not want a fat person visible in the front office.Said by AThe DOL Office of Inspector General report, released September 4, 2026, alleges that Deputy Chief of Staff Rebecca Wright relocated an employee's desk because she did not want a 'fat person' visible in the front office, based on witness accounts. Multiple outlets repeat this account, no source disputes this specific incident, and Wright declined to be interviewed, so the claim is supported as the report's finding of witness-reported conduct rather than as an independently verified fact. The claim drops the word 'reportedly' from the report's wording, which is a faithful paraphrase.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True90% confidence2 sourcesSep 5, 2026Rebecca Wright advised an employee not to cut her hair above her shoulders to avoid turning into a lesbian.Said by AAn inspector general report (primary, Sept 4, 2026) states witnesses said Deputy Chief of Staff Rebecca Wright advised an employee not to cut her hair above her shoulders to avoid 'turning into a lesbian,' and NPR and other outlets report the same allegation. The claim matches the passage and the record; it is a witness allegation as reported in the IG findings, and the report does not contradict it.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True90% confidence6 sourcesSep 5, 2026Lori Chavez-DeRemer authorized her staff to access her residence to hang laundry and dry cleaning and organize her clothing, shoes, and purses.Said by AThe Labor Department Inspector General report, as reported by AP and CNN, found that Chavez-DeRemer directed an aide to use a department vehicle to go to her house to hang laundry, handle dry cleaning, and organize her clothing, shoes, and purses. The claim's wording is a faithful paraphrase of the post, and the 'authorized access' framing matches the report's account of her directing staff to go to her residence.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True90% confidence11 sourcesSep 5, 2026Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer directed her personal aide and executive to use Department of Labor motor pool transportation to travel to her personal residence to organize her bedroom closet during the workday.Said by AMultiple tier1 and primary sources, including the DOL Office of Inspector General report, state that Chavez-DeRemer's personal aide and executive assistant used department-provided transportation to travel to her residence during working hours to organize her bedroom closet. The claim's wording ('commute' and 'motor pool') is a faithful paraphrase of the passage; the report describes the transport as department-provided, and the sources are consistent with the claim as extracted.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True85% confidence5 sourcesSep 5, 2026Lori Chavez-DeRemer, her Chief of Staff, and Rebecca Wright regularly drank alcohol in Chavez-DeRemer's study during official duty hours.Said by AThe Labor Department OIG report, as quoted by multiple outlets, says witnesses attested that Chavez-DeRemer, Chief of Staff Jihun Han, and Rebecca Wright regularly drank alcohol in the secretary's study during official duty hours, and the IG concluded all three violated alcohol policy. The claim's 'Han, who is the Chief of Staff' and 'Wright' referents match the report, so the extraction is faithful.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True92% confidence4 sourcesSep 5, 2026Lori Chavez-DeRemer traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, in December 2025.Said by AThe claim that Chavez-DeRemer traveled to Las Vegas in December 2025 is supported by the Labor Department inspector general's report (hotel records for December 4-7, 2025) and by NPR and AP coverage of the same report. The post's 'one trip' wording is not part of the extracted claim, and the sources do not contradict it.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True90% confidence3 sourcesSep 5, 2026Lori Chavez-DeRemer's December 2025 trip to Las Vegas was reassigned to include a Western Caucus speaking engagement to provide an official business justification for the travel.Said by AThe DOL Inspector General report, a primary source, states that a Western Caucus speaking engagement previously assigned to Sonderling in Las Vegas in December 2025 was reassigned to Chavez-DeRemer after she received complimentary rodeo tickets from a lobbyist, apparently to provide an official business justification for her personal travel. NPR's report of the same findings corroborates this. The report's word 'apparently' is an inference the investigators drew, and the claim's 'reassigned to include' wording is a close paraphrase of the record.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True92% confidence4 sourcesSep 5, 2026The Office of Inspector General monitored Lori Chavez-DeRemer's residence in Washington, D.C.The DOL Office of Inspector General's report of investigation states that on February 25, 2026, the OIG conducted surveillance at Chavez-DeRemer's Washington, D.C., residence, and HuffPost independently reports investigators surveilled her Washington apartment building. The claim matches the post's account and its extraction is faithful to the passage.True70% confidence6 sourcesSep 5, 2026Kelly Loeffler is hosting a business competition that offers a one million dollar prize.Said by AAs of 2026-09-05, the SBA's Million Dollar Pitch Competition, with a $1 million prize pool, had been announced, and Kelly Loeffler, the SBA Administrator, was promoting it. One source (Daily Signal) describes her as co-host alongside Dean Cain, while others name Cain as host and Loeffler as the agency head behind the event, so the 'hosting' role is supported but partly a matter of label.True92% confidence6 sourcesSep 5, 2026A competition featuring a million-dollar prize and judges including Nicki Minaj and Grant Cardone will take place on September 18 in Washington.The claim's core assertion is supported: the SBA announced before the September 5 post a Million Dollar Pitch Competition with a $1 million prize pool, judges Nicki Minaj and Grant Cardone, and a September 18 date in Washington. Later coverage reports the event took place as scheduled, and the extraction faithfully matches the passage's content.True95% confidence4 sourcesSep 5, 2026Dean Cain announced in August 2025 that he was joining ICE.Said by AMultiple reliable outlets confirm that Dean Cain announced in August 2025 that he was joining ICE, based on his Aug. 6, 2025 Fox News interview saying he would be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP. Snopes rated the claim True, and the claim matches the post's wording without adding anything.