Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s exit comes after she became entangled in a string of political and personal controversies. The labor secretary and her close aides are currently under investigation by the department’s inspector general over allegations of professional misconduct.

These include claims that Chavez-DeRemer had an affair with a member of her security detail, kept a “stash” of alcohol in her office and used government resources for personal travel, while her aides allegedly sought to channel grants towards politically connected figures, the New York Times reported in March.

The inspector general is also reviewing material showing Chavez-DeRemer and her top aides and family members routinely sent personal messages and requests to young staff members, another Times report said last week. Chavez-DeRemer’s husband and father exchanged text messages with young female staff members, according to the newspaper.

The scandals did not end there. The secretary’s husband, Shawn DeRemer, an anesthesiologist, was barred from the department’s headquarters after allegations by at least two female staff members that he had sexually assaulted them. The women told department officials that Shawn DeRemer had touched them inappropriately at the department’s building on Constitution Avenue in Washington.

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Lori Chavez-DeRemer addressed her resignation in a statement posted on X, calling it “an honor and a privilege to serve” in Donald Trump’s second administration.

“At the Department of Labor, I am proud that we made significant progress in advancing President Trump’s mission to bridge the gap between business and labor and always put the American worker first”, she wrote. “We created new pathways to mortgage-paying jobs, prepared workers to excel in the age of AI, took steps to lower prescription drug costs, promoted retirement security, and so much more”.

Chavez-DeRemer thanked the president, adding that she is “looking forward to what the future has in store as I depart for the private sector.”

Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, called for Kash Patel’s immediate resignation following a report from the Atlantic detailing the FBI director’s alleged “excessive drinking” and absences from work.

“Americans deserve steady, SOBER leadership from their FBI Director. Kash Patel must resign immediately,” the Democrat said on Monday. “Every day he remains in office is a national security risk.”

Patel has sued the magazine for defamation, and is seeking $250m in damages for the article which his attorneys described as a “sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece”.

If you’re a Democrat running for governor and polling in the low-single digits, Rusty Hicks would like a word.

“My call for candidates to honestly assess the viability of their candidacy and campaigns still stands, especially if you are stalled in the single digits, seeing financial resources dried up and/or are failing to pick up additional support,” Hicks, the California Democratic party chair, pleaded on a press call with reporters earlier.

It’s the same message Hicks has been delivering for weeks. But the fall of Eric Swalwell, who abandoned his campaign for governor and resigned from Congress amid a storm of sexual assault and misconduct allegations–the most serious of which he denies–has renewed fears that Democrats might be sleep-walking into electoral disaster in the nation’s most populous blue state.

Under California’s so-called “jungle primary,” the top two vote-getters advance to the November general election, regardless of party. According to the latest tracking poll, conducted by EVITARUS Research for the state party, two Republicans – Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco – continue to lead the pack. This is despite Trump’s endorsement of Hilton, which many observers believed would push Republicans to consolidate around Hilton.

Swalwell’s support had completely collapsed, dropping from 12% earlier this month to less than 1%, the poll showed. By contrast, former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra who had been languishing at just 4%, surged to 13%, tied with leading Democrat Tom Steyer. Former congresswoman Katie Porter garnered 10%, followed by several Democrats who fell under the 5% mark.

Hicks acknowledged that Swalwell’s shock exit reset the race, giving someone like Becerra, whose campaign appeared stalled, a new opportunity. But he insisted that was not the case for every candidate and urged those Democrats to “do what is best for California in this historic moment”.

“They can hold out hope,” Hicks told reporters, “but the numbers are what the numbers are.”

Moments before his press conference, former state controller Betty Yee dropped out of the governor’s race, saying she didn’t see a path forward.

Donald Trump signed memorandums related to coal supply chains, natural gas and grid infrastructure on Monday, the White House said.

The president invoked the Defense Production Act in the energy-related memos, writing that increasing energy production is “essential to United States national defense”.

The move comes as the Trump administration seeks to address skyrocketing fuel prices consumes are facing due to the US and Israel’s war on Iran.

“Today’s determinations allow the Department of Energy to use funding secured in the One Big Beautiful Bill to strengthen our grid infrastructure and unleash reliable, affordable, secure energy,” said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson.

The crowded field of Democratic candidates in the California’s governor’s race appears to be narrowing as Betty Yee — a former state controller— announced Monday she planned to end her campaign.

The development came a week after Eric Swalwell dropped out of the contest after news outlets reported on allegations of sexual assault against him, which the congressman has denied.

If elected, the progressive Yee would have been the first woman to hold the state’s highest office, but her campaign was outmatched in fundraising and ultimately wasn’t able to break through the packed field. The race remains unpredictable with six Democrats and two Republicans leading in polling on the ballot.

Donald Trump has said that a “lots of bombs start going off” if the two-week ceasefire deal lapses this week with no deal secured.

In an interview with PBS News, the president added that he didn’t know whether Tehran are taking part in the most recent round of talks in Islamabad. “If they’re not there, that’s fine too,” he said.

When Liz Landers asked Trump whether it was appropriate that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has had business interests in the Middle East region, should be negotiating on behalf of the US, the president said that Kushner is “purely negotiating for the fact that [Iran] are not going to have a nuclear weapon”.

“I sent my A-Team, he’s done an excellent job,” the president said.

In a statement, the Atlantic said that the lawsuit brought against the publication and the author of the article alleging Kash Patel’s excessive drinking and frequent absences at work is “meritless”.

“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists,” the outlet said.

Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh is slated to tell lawmakers at his confirmation hearing tomorrow that he is “committed to ensuring that the conduct of monetary policy remains strictly independent”, according to a prepared statement sent to Politico.

“I am equally committed to working with the Administration and Congress on non-monetary matters that are part of the Fed’s remit,” reads the statement.

Warsh is also set to tell lawmakers at the hearing that monetary policymakers must make decisions based on “analytic rigor, meaningful deliberation, and unclouded decision-making”. He also suggests Donald Trump’s persistent calls for lower interest rates do not threaten the independence of the central bank.

“I do not believe the operational independence of monetary policy is particularly threatened when elected officials – presidents, senators, or members of the House – state their views on interest rates,” Warsh will say, according to the prepared statement sent to the news outlet. “Central bankers must be strong enough to listen to a diversity of views from all corners.”

Donald Trump dismissed his energy secretary, Chris Wright, who said gas prices are not expected to fall back under $3 a gallon until 2027, according to the Hill.

Over the weekend, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Wright when he thought “it’s realistic for Americans to expect the gas will go back to under $3 a gallon”. Wright replied: “I don’t know. That could happen later this year. That might not happen until next year.”

“No, I think he’s wrong on that. Totally wrong,” Trump told the Hill on Monday, adding that gas prices will drop “as soon as this ends”, referring to the Iran war.

My colleague Jeremy Barr has more on the lawsuit filed by Kash Patel against the Atlantic.

Patel’s legal team accused the magazine and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick of publishing “a sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece” on 17 April.

“Defendants are of course free to criticize the leadership of the FBI, but they crossed the legal line by publishing an article replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office,” the complaint reads. “Indeed, Fitzpatrick could not get a single person to go on the record in defense of these outrageous allegations, instead relying entirely on anonymous sources she knew to be both highly partisan with an ax to grind and also not in a position to know the facts.”

Patel’s lawyers accused the Atlantic of acting with actual malice – the legal standard for winning a defamation lawsuit against a public individual.

Oliver Milman and Dharna Noor

Democrats should get louder in championing clean energy’s affordability and resilience from global shocks, according to some of the party’s leading voices on the climate.

As the Iran war roils economies by raising the cost of oil and gas, countries are aiming to accelerate their shift to cleaner energy. But in the US, Donald Trump has sought to kill off any alternative to fossil fuels while opposing Democrats have been reluctant to tie the conflict to any action on the climate crisis.

The closure of the strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally travels, in the wake of the US and Israel’s attack on Iran caused energy costs to spike around the world. In the US, the cost of gasoline has soared above $4.10 a gallon nationally, with Trump admitting the costs could even be “a little bit higher” by November.

“There’s a timely clash on climate and costs that Democrats can win, as long as we have the nerve to actually show up to the fight,” said Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator, who added “true energy independence will be achieved by powering our economy with renewable energy, the fuel sources for which are unlimited, free and independent of geopolitical events”.

The Iran war provides a “unique moment of opportunity” for Democrats to extol the advantages of lower-pollution options like electric cars but the focus should be on “reducing consumer costs, which should’ve been the message over climate protection all along”, according to Paul Bledsoe, a former climate adviser to Bill Clinton’s White House.

“I don’t think they’ve grasped the political opportunity yet,” Bledsoe said. “They have to stay really focused on how these next-generation technologies will provide a consumer benefit. When you pitch clean energy as cutting consumer costs first and improving the overall economy second, people are happy to cut emissions third.”

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Here is a first look at the portal set up to process refunds for businesses who paid billions in Trump tariffs. This is part of the newly created Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) tool, in order to streamline the refund process.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) estimates that businesses are owed about $166bn in tariff refunds, after the supreme court invalidated Donald Trump’s levies under the Internation Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Legal filings suggest the first phase of refunds would handle the majority of imports that were affected, according to a report from NPR.

Most importers eligible for a refund had signed up for electronic payments, an official reportedly told a judge last week, adding this group was owed about $127bn.

Oil prices have risen sharply and European stock markets have fallen after the US seizure of an Iranian vessel dented hopes for a peace deal.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose by 4.8% on Monday to $94.69 a barrel.

The price changes followed Donald Trump’s announcement on Sunday that an Iranian cargo ship had been seized after trying to get past the US-enforced blockade near the strait of Hormuz shipping channel.

Donald Trump is in Washington today. He’ll spend most of the day in meetings, and at 3pm ET he’ll sign executive orders. None of these are open to the press, but we’ll let you know if anything changes and we hear from the president.

After the supreme court struck down Trump’s tariffs in February, US businesses called for a swift process to pay refunds to US importers.

The US National Retail Federation, which represents a number of US retailers, from Walmart to small brands and manufacturers, called for “a seamless process to refund the tariffs to US importers” at the time.

“The refunds will serve as an economic boost and allow companies to reinvest in their operations, their employees and their customers,” it said.

The US Chamber of Commerce, too, called for swift return of tariffs covered by the ruling. Its chief policy officer, Neil Bradley, said: “Swift refunds of the impermissible tariffs will be meaningful for the more than 200,000 small business importers in this country and will help support stronger economic growth this year.”

“We encourage the administration to use this opportunity to reset overall tariff policy in a manner that will lead to greater economic growth, larger wage gains for workers and lower costs for families,” he added.

Dan Anthony, director of the business coalition We Pay the Tariffs, noted that the impact of the tariffs has been particularly hard on small businesses, which have taken out loans, delayed hiring and canceled expansion plans to accommodate import tariffs.

Refunds, he predicted, would allow businesses to reverse those trends.

The body published a national sign-on letter that said it was “imperative that that money is then given back without some of these onerous processes”.

“Full, fast automatic refunds is really where our focus is going to be,” it added.

“They’ve taken out loans just to keep their doors open. They’ve frozen hiring, canceled expansion plans, and watched their life savings drain away to pay tariff bills that weren’t in any budget or business plan,” the statement said. “But a legal victory is meaningless without actual relief for the businesses that paid these tariffs.”

Donald Trump said US negotiators will be in Pakistan on Monday, and he again threatened to destroy its power plants and bridges if no deal is reached.

Trump did not say who would lead the delegation, but a White House official said it was vice-president JD Vance.

Talks are in doubt after Iran said it had no plans for any new negotiations, saying Washington had violated a ceasefire agreement from its implementation.

A spokesperson also said Tehran can’t forget US attacks on Iran during previous diplomatic talks as he insisted that Iran will continue defending its national interests.

As a reminder, the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on 28 February, and the 12-day war last year both were launched when Iran and the US were in talks over Iran’s nuclear programme.

You can follow the latest developments in the war with Iran in our live blog: