News/Commentary

GOP Senator wants answers about fmr Biden official’s luggage theft while on taxpayer-funded trip

July 28, 2023 | | Print Article

A GOP senator is demanding answers after it was reported that non-binary former senior official Sam Brinton went on an official taxpayer-funded trip last year where he stole luggage.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is calling out the Department of Energy (DOE) over the incident. He sent a letter to the DOE on Wednesday, addressed to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. In that letter, he grilled Granholdm over Brinton’s employment and what the agency knew about his alleged crimes.

The nuclear engineer and LGBTQ activist evidently has a penchant for stealing women’s luggage and wearing their clothing. The letter inquiring about Brinton’s proclivities follows Fox News Digital’s reporting that the MIT graduate was on a taxpayer-funded business trip to Nevada when he stole baggage in July 2022.

“Far from a faithful execution of duties, Sam Brinton used taxpayer dollars to facilitate theft from the very public DOE is bound to serve,” Barrasso told Granholm in the letter. “Though Brinton is no longer a DOE employee, there are continuing concerns about potential criminality committed during Brinton’s employment at DOE.”

“The press has reported on three alleged thefts carried out by Brinton. This criminal activity represents a disturbing pattern of behavior. It is therefore important to discover whether or not Brinton carried out additional thefts while on DOE-sponsored travel,” the senator demanded. “As Sam Brinton’s employer, your department is liable for Brinton’s criminal misconduct committed while on official travel.”

Barrasso went on to ask Granholm to provide his committee with Brinton’s official travel itineraries. He also requested for the DOE to collaborate with the Office of the Inspector General to find out what crimes Brinton actually committed while on taxpayer-funded trips.

“It is clear DOE has both a legal and moral obligation to address additional criminal acts carried out at the hands of your senior employee,” he noted. “For this reason, I request DOE provide the Committee a list of Brinton’s official travel itineraries.”

“Additionally, I request the relevant DOE personnel work with the Inspector General to determine whether or not Brinton committed other criminal acts while on DOE-sponsored travel,” Barrasso stated in the letter. “By doing so, DOE may help other potential victims of Brinton’s crimes.”

Barrasso has been all over Brinton since his alleged crimes took place and he’s not about to back down now even though he is no longer with the DOE. Brinton was fired from the DOE in December 2022.

Fox News reported, “In early July 2022, Brinton traveled to the DOE-operated Nevada National Security Site near Las Vegas, according to DOE filings and expense reports obtained by watchdog group Functional Government Initiative and shared with Fox News Digital. Brinton flew on a United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on July 6, 2022.”

“Months later, in early December, Las Vegas prosecutors charged Brinton with grand larceny of an item valued between $1,200 and $5,000. Police accused Brinton of stealing a suitcase with a total estimated worth of $3,670 at Harry Reid International Airport on July 6, 2022, the same day Brinton traveled to Las Vegas on official DOE business,” the media outlet continued.

The nuclear scientist received no jail time in the grand larceny case. He pleaded no contest to the charges and waived the right to a trial.

As punishment, Brinton got a slap on the wrist and was ordered to pay $3,670.74 to the victim in the case and $500 in additional fees, which included a criminal fine. Clark County Judge Ann Zimmerman gave him a 180-day suspended jail sentence and ordered Brinton to “stay out of trouble.”

He also got no jail time in another case involving the theft of luggage worth a total of $2,325 from the luggage carousel at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport on Sept. 16.

In a third theft, Brinton was arrested in May for a 2018 incident at the Washington, DC-area Reagan National Airport. He seems to have skated on that as well.

Documents reveal that Brinton traveled to the Nevada National Security Site for an unspecified meeting and site visit. Barrasso wants those details.

Brinton, a non-binary gender-fluid person, was originally appointed to be the deputy assistant secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition at the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.

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