Trump taps ex-Rep. D’Esposito as Labor Department watchdog

President Trump tapped former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) to be the Department of Labor’s (DOL) inspector general on Monday evening, months after he lost his House seat to Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.) in the last election cycle. 

If D’Esposito, who was a New York City Police Department detective before being elected as a House lawmaker, is confirmed by the Senate, he would be tasked with conducting audits to review the “effectiveness, efficiency, economy and integrity of all DOL programs and operations, including those performed by its contractors and grantees.” 

DOL’s watchdog also conducts criminal, civil and administrative investigations into alleged violations of federal laws regarding the department’s programs, operations and personnel.

The department’s prior inspector general was Larry D. Turner, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. Turner was one of more than a dozen inspectors general who were fired by the Trump administration in late January. 

“It was a power purge to get rid of the people, the watchdogs, that actually provide oversight,” Turner said during his late March appearance on the "More To The Story With Al Letson,” podcast. “We are really the eyes and the ears for the American public.”

Before being nominated to be DOL’s watchdog, D’Esposito was vying for a few administration posts, including being the president’s nominee to head the Drug Enforcement Agency. 

D’Esposito, a Long Island Republican, represented New York's 4th congressional district while in Congress. He served one term before being narrowly defeated by Gillen in November last year.

D’Esposito dealt with heavy blowback during his reelection campaign after The New York Times reported in September last year that he allegedly had an affair and then put the woman, along with his fiancée’s daughter, on the government payroll. The former House lawmaker has denied wrongdoing.