One of President Donald Trump's fiercest loyalists appeared to play a key part in burying the administration's latest scandal, according to two experts.
Last week, it was reported that Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer's husband, Shawn DeRemer, had been barred from the agency's office in Washington, D.C., after he was accused of sexually assaulting a female employee. That step is extraordinary in and of itself, but even moreso considering that DeRemer has not been charged with a crime.
The Washington Metropolitan Police Department concluded its investigation on Thursday and found insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations against DeRemer. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host, also declined to bring charges against DeRemer
Even so, Pirro appeared to play a central role in making the whole thing go away, according to Legal "Diva" Melba Pearson and former Florida state attorney Dave Aronberg, who discussed the scandal on the latest episode of the "Legal AF" podcast.
Pearson noted that Pirro's decision not to bring charges was questionable, given that the agency had decided to prohibit DeRemer from being on the premises.
"What perturbs me is that Jeannie Piro ... she's like, 'Yeah, I saw the tape. Nothing doing.' which under normal circumstances, I would take the prosecutor's side," Pearson said.
"Why would you ban him from the building if there was nothing to see?" she added.
Pearson added that the Department of Labor did not bring in an outside investigator to look into the allegations against DeRemer. Instead, that duty fell to the agency's Inspector General, she said.
Aronberg said the episode made him question how the accuser could get a fair shot at justice at all.
"The number one criterion for Trump is not job performance, it's loyalty," he said.