Doge spokeswoman defends office fashion videos as distraction from cancer

A Doge spokeswoman who was criticised for filming videos of her outfits from her government office has defended herself, saying the posts helped to distract her from her breast cancer battle.

McLaurine Pinover, the 33-year-old communications director for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), attracted the scorn of civil servants after using her Washington DC office as a backdrop for fashion photoshoots published on her Instagram account.

Former OPM employees accused her of trying to create a brand as a Washington influencer while simultaneously defending mass layoffs of federal workers, including her own colleagues, ordered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

However, Ms Pinover told The Telegraph that she had used Instagram as a “personal outlet” after her illness and never made any money through her social media account.

“While I was battling breast cancer as a new mom, I felt so unlike myself,” she said.

“Shortly after, I turned to social media as a personal outlet. I never made any income and with only about 800 followers, I’m surprised this is newsworthy.”

She added: “My focus remains on serving the American people at OPM.”

The OPM manages the civil service, and is tasked with directing the Trump administration’s attempts to end remote working among federal workforce and issuing guidance on mass layoffs, which have been led by Doge. She has issued statements defending Doge cuts.

The same day the OPM published a memo exploring how to fire “poor-performing employees”, Ms Pinover posted a video in which she blew a kiss to the camera, accompanied by the captions “work look” and “#dcinfluencer”.

Her Instagram account, which has since been deleted, linked to a website where viewers could buy the $475 skirt she was modelling. Some influencers generate income through the commission they receive from followers who purchase garments they have linked to.

Ms Pinover posted a fashion video on Feb 13 when the OPM held a call with federal agencies directing them to lay off thousands of employees – including 20 people on her own team, according to her Democrat-appointed predecessor Jack Miller.

“Your number one job as a leader is to protect and support your people,” Mr Miller told CNN.

“Instead of fighting tooth and nail to keep your team, we’re posting fashion videos. It’s absurd.”

The videos were filmed inside the office of the OPM communications director, which is located on the fifth floor of the agency’s headquarters in Washington DC, according to former employees.

According to federal regulations, government employees must not use public property “for other than authorised purposes,” with exceptions for “de minimis personal use”.

“She’s the spokesperson for the agency that is advocating for the firing based on performance and efficiency of the rest of the government workforce, and she’s using government property as a backdrop for her videos,” a former employee said.