Top Republican senator demands Biden fire 'gender fluid' official charged with stealing woman's luggage
A prominent Republican senator has called on the Biden administration to fire an LGBT activist who identifies as non-binary over being recently charged with stealing luggage.
Sam Brinton, a man who identifies as non-binary and dresses in women's clothes, serves as deputy assistant secretary for Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy in the Department of Energy under the Biden administration.
Sen. John Barrasso, who serves as ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sent a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday expressing “serious concerns” regarding the “felony theft charges brought against” Brinton.
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“It is in the interest of both the Department’s mission and our national security that the Deputy Assistant Secretary’s clearance be immediately revoked. Additionally, the Department should undertake all necessary steps to terminate their employment immediately,” wrote Barrasso.
Barrasso cited an earlier letter from July, stating that it was “imperative” that “executive branch officials are free of a history of conduct unbecoming of federal service.”
“I am requesting that you immediately launch a comprehensive review of the Department’s security clearance adjudication process and report to me the findings no later than February 1, 2023,” he continued.
Brinton was appointed to the senior position in the Energy Department in June, announcing his new role in a post to Twitter earlier this year, which showed him wearing women’s clothing.
In November, Brinton was charged with felony theft after allegedly stealing a woman's designer luggage from the baggage claim at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport back in September. The luggage by designer Vera Bradley is worth $2,325. The woman's clothes that were in the suitcase are now missing.
“[Brinton] removed the blue bag’s tag and put the bag tag in the handbag they were carrying,” read the court documents, as reported by the Washington Examiner. “Defendant then left the area at a quick pace.”
Brinton reportedly used the stolen suitcase for a trip to Europe before being contacted by authorities in October regarding the item.
In response to the allegations, Brinton claimed back in October that he did not steal the bag, but took it by mistake.
“If I had taken the wrong bag, I am happy to return it, but I don’t have any clothes for another individual. That was my clothes when I opened the bag,” Brinton claimed, according to the Examiner.
The Energy Department put Brinton on leave pending the result of the investigation, with a hearing scheduled for Dec. 19, according to the Daily Mail.
An MIT graduate, Brinton previously garnered controversy earlier this year over social media posts depicting him engaging in sexually fetishistic imagery and actions.
“In a White House bent on normalizing ‘queer culture,’ Sam Brinton's appointment as deputy assistant secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition is par for the deviant course,” wrote Family Research Council President Tony Perkins in an op-ed published by The Christian Post in February.
“But to everyday Americans, who thought they were getting a ‘moderate’ president, the picture of our newest government official standing over a man in a dog collar is a poorly-timed reminder that voters elected anything but.”
