This week, Elizabeth Baxter, an intern with the department’s environmental division, became the second Justice Department employee to be fired by Attorney General Pam Bondi for abusive conduct toward federal officers. Baxter shouted profanities and flipped off a member of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., on her way to work. The termination raises legitimate free speech issues, but Baxter may have crossed the line by recounting the abuse at work.
We recently addressed the effort to charge Sean Charles Dunn, another DOJ paralegal, with a felony over assaulting a Customs and Border Protection agent with a sandwich. A D.C. grand jury refused to issue an indictment and he will now face a misdemeanor after being fired by the Justice Department.
Baxter is different in that she is not accused of any assault. According to the New York Post, after arriving at a DOJ building on the morning of August 18, Baxter bragged to a security guard about how she had just made the gesture at the Metro Center Metro Stop. She also recounted how she told the guardsman, “F–k the National Guard.”
The protest itself would seem protected speech. There is no indication that Baxter referenced her position at the Justice Department when she engaged in this profane protest. This was not done during work hours.
DOJ guidelines affirm that employees may:
– Express opinions on political subjects and candidates.
– Campaign for or against a referendum, constitutional amendment or ordinance.
– Participate in civic, professional and other similar activities.
– Sign a political petition.
– Display signs, stickers, badges or buttons for candidates for partisan political office except when on duty.
However, those same guidelines state that employees may not:
“Participate in political activities (to include wearing political buttons) while on duty; while wearing a uniform, badge or insignia of office; while in a government occupied office or building; or while using a government owned or leased vehicle.”
Baxter’s desire to repeat the protest to a security officer at the DOJ moved the matter into the workplace. Not only did security footage capture her flipping off the National Guardsman and exclaiming, “F–k you!” but she is also seen demonstrating to a department security guard how she held up her middle finger. She boasted to the security guard that she hated the National Guard and that she told them to “F–k off!”
The conduct inside the Justice Department could be cited as sufficient grounds for termination. The repetition of the protest to the DOJ security could be seen as disrespecting their positions and interjecting her political views into the workplace.
Baxter could, within 30 days, file with the Merit Systems Protection Board to challenge the action. I expect that she is likely to do so. She can claim that she was not insulting the security officer or making a political statement in the building’s lobby. However, she elected to repeat the political expression inside the federal building to at least one other federal employee during office hours. As such, she destroyed much of the constitutional protection afforded to her earlier statements and demonstration.
Off Topic:
Is it just me or is Bloomberg TV Left-Leaning? It’s a bit like looking at the Tower of Pisa.
(Depending at which side of the Tower of Pisa you are stand on, the Tower will appear to lean Left or Right.)
In the mornings and throughout the day I set the TV to the Bloomberg Channel, mostly for background atmosphere, but also to catch something new and interesting. That’s to say I don’t constantly watch Bloomberg as I work, however my senses have been giving me the idea that Bloomberg is leaning Left. Bloomberg Host Matt Miller seems to be grooming the lead in this direction. His journalistic comments don’t sit center. That’s my take, it just makes me question the channels political honesty, it’s not like He’s Rachel Maddow in disguise. Bloomberg for the most part is seems neutral, the daily Numbers are the Numbers, and Global segments maybe a narrowed focus to fit the format of the Bloomberg platform. But it’s good market squawk.
What’s your take?
When l think of Michael Bloomberg’s financing of Everytown for Gun Safety l don’t have a problem with your sense of left tilt to the program.
I expect that government lawyers and paralegals would be cognizant of the law and aware of the consequences if they violate the law. The taxpayers who pay their salary do not deserve to have employees that are so ignorant of their field. She should be fired just for being stupid.
BREAKING NEWS
The Babylon Bee reports: Kamala Harris Last Seen Fleeing Dozens Of International Assassins After Trump Cancels Her Secret Service Protection.
“LOS ANGELOS, CA — Following President Trump’s recent cancellation of Kamala Harris’ Secret Service protection, the former Vice-President was seen fleeing dozens of international assassins.
The last-captured video footage of the former VP shows Harris leaping from roof to roof in downtown LA, hotly pursued by a crowd of ninjas, men in suits wearing sunglasses, and other assailants from every corner of the world.
“It’s very sad to see what’s happening now that she lost her Secret Service protection, but she’s doing all right for herself,” said Grayson Casey, the intelligence operative who was the last to see Harris in the flesh. “She’s actually got some impressive evasion skills for such an idiotic moron. I couldn’t believe it when she broke the fall from a 5-story building with a sweet Gramby roll.”
Reports state that, in the absence of her government protection, Harris has thus far fended off elite covert attacks, including a poisonous slug which she killed with a lightsaber, a time pincer movement using the Algorithm, and an amnesiac recovered from the middle of the ocean.
Doug Emhoff, Kamala’s husband, declined to comment, as he was too busy cheering on the assassins pursuing his wife.
At publishing time, Harris had finally been caught by the band of international assassins after she crashed into a tunnel, which they had painted on the side of a building with the words “Tunnel to Safety.”
Noone
I suspect her internship is over. She should have been fired just for poor judgement. Someone said that these people are just like a bunch of children but I disagree. Children do not always know better but this lady is supposedly an adult and should have known better than to make such an scene and cast herself and her employer in such a poor light. She was also demeaning a fellow officer of the law. Probably a new recruit for Antifa or a future prosecutor for George Soros. Trump needs to keep firing people. I think he still has several hundred thousand to go.
About 2.5 million to go.
I have worked in this building since it opened in June 2019. There have been muggings, shootings (a bullet hit one of our windows), and harassment by packs of youth. There was a large homeless encampment (in fairness removed before Trump). The crime has been so bad that our security personnel send out SharePoint messages regularly warning us to be careful. The surge has stopped all of that. One can debate whether the surge is sustainable, but it’s been nice. I really hate to see this woman and the sandwich thrower make it seem like DOJ personnel are unhinged. A lot of them in DC are left wing. I would also complain that they are in a deep blue media bubble. But they really are hard working, intelligent, and want to do a great job no matter the administration. Practically all of the babies with Resistance in their profiles back in 2017 have departed long ago. Please don’t stereotype the rest of us because some folks go loco. And shout out to the actual guards who keep us safe from all sorts of danger and nonsense.
REally, I would give you some support if you could provide ONE example of a government employee that acted in this manner against a Democrat or liberal policy. Just one.
The thing is, what would be ideal is NO public expression of such disdain for EITHER party. Advocacy for a party, on private time and in non-work space – great. (And I will accept disdain and even gratuitous insults such as this person used, because of free speech – but I wish, oh so fervently, that so many were not moved to such grossness.) But I would love to see all public servants remember, as Really does, that they are there to serve the public, no matter who the boss is at the time.
It’s great when lefties self-reveal.
Who does such a thing? Who is so obtuse and crass, lacking manners and respect? Someone who is either mean spirited or who has not been taught well.
I wonder how she would feel about the National Guard if she were stranded in a hurricane and a soldier offered help? I am curious how she would feel if she were a crime victim? The National guardsman or guardswoman are real people, likely someone who joined to help pay for college, one who was not born into privilege.
9-to-5
Get in Line,
Stay Focused,
Put your Nose to the Grinding Stone,
Keep a stiff upper Lip,
Stay the Course,
Do as your Told,
Be all that you can Be.
-24|7|365-
Life doesn’t get better than that for the 99%.
Be grateful, know your not alone.
This is the World We live in.
Big Brother is Watching You.
P.S.: More Data Centers, More Data Centers, We must have More Data Centers!…
Do you think Pam Bondi can stand back from politics and just blindly apply DOJ employee policy?
Because if not, then she herself will be violating DOJ employ…..oh never mind, those rules don’t apply to her.
“. . . blindly apply DOJ employee policy?”
How about professionalism and decency policy? If you’re going to spit in your employer’s face, have the good sense to do so in private.
ano
Do you think Pam Bondi can stand back from politics.
***************
Are you some kind of moron. This fool of a lady got fired. She caused it.
You libs crack me up. No wonder you support the trans non-sense.
Baxter should contact George Soros and ask him to pay for her legal representation! Her acts of job-related misconduct at the DOJ that caused her termination fit well with Soros’ hatred for the USA – the latter as evidenced by the beneficiaries of his funding.
They really are a bunch of children.
When it comes to the DNC… Yep!
These people hating on ICE and National Guard employees are of the same ilk as those who demeaned and spit on soldiers returning from the Vietnam war. Worse is that their actions are pure virtue signaling.
I haven’t forgotten how I was treated when I came home. I despise these people.
“F the National Guard”. These are the same leftists that spit on returning Vietnam vets and yet have been saying since 9/11 “thank you for your service” as a lying way to pretend to be patriotic. This little piece of garbage is just another left wing poseur trying to pick up some liberal cred.
An intern. Those with hiring authority who interview applicants seem to select FOR people with the worst traits. It can not be an accident that so many genuinely unlikeable people with inflated egos and terrible attitudes make it through the screening. And of course she’s in the environmental division, so I’m sure her obnoxiousness is even higher than that of other interns.
It’s like they reject normal people and select for Natacha/Gigi clones.
You’re not allowed to ask them about a lot of stuff. I think it’s just part of the politically protected process. It’s great that she was dumb enough to bring it into the workplace though so she could get fired. Silver lining there.
“An intern.”
That was a JT mistake. She wasn’t an intern.
She was a career bureaucrat and an emotion-driven environmentalist. She’s the nihilistic type who defaces art, interrupts sporting events, stops traffic, spits in her employer’s face — and expects to get away with it.
Who were the officers in charge of the jails in DC where the J6 civilians were illegally held, beaten, starved and some not given life needed Rx? Why are they not in jail themselves at this moment? Wasn’t there a woman in charge of this illegal activity and why isn’t she in jail herself? Why isn’t Bondi kicking there butts all the way to GITMO? This train is moving so slowly a two legged dog could catch it. When 47’s four years comes to closure no one will have paid for their crimes period. It is all for show, The Roman Circus lives on!
It takes time to fix all of Biden & O-dumber screw-ups.
“It takes time to fix all of Biden & O-dumber screw-ups.”
It takes *some* time. It isn’t infinite. Some of us are beginning to wonder where the line between sincerity and pandering is being drawn.
No matter where you work or whatever your job is, an employee cannot speak in a harmful way to other employees — free speech does not mean degrading coworkers.
Great way to get fired. As she just saw.
What a fool. Good luck finding another job, unless it’s with the DNC. They love these crazy people.
An important technique to gaining power in this world is hate. The USA is not new to this, but it is now the main tool of the Democrats to regain power. Others from past years include the Jacobins of the French Revolution, the Nazis of Germany, Communist Regimes Using Class Hatred, the Ku Klux Clan, McCarthyism, Cambodian Khmer Rouge (1975–1979), Fascist Party (Italy, 1920s–1940s), and many, many others. In some cases hate wins, usually temporally, but not not without great damage done.
Jonathan,
Can you explain why this would go in front of a grand jury so fast? I am not up on laws/procedures but I do not think that if I threw a sandwich at a police officer that my situation would go to a grand jury and be over in a couple of weeks? How did this get resolved so fast when hundreds of people a day are probably charged with a crime in Washington DC?
Yes, your case would go to a grand jury as soon as possible. The only reason for any delay would be if the prosecutor needed more time to investigate, but here the whole thing was on video so what investigation would be needed? So why would you expect a delay? Yes, hundreds of people a day are probably charged — so why would you not be one of them? Why would they delay charging you for no reason?
She just assumed that the security guard she was talking to would not be offended by her attitude.
The security guard probably has more in common with the National Guard she was insulting than with her.
Another lift-wing nut from the DNC.
Great job you fools
Another FAFO-award winner. It’s high time people learn a valuable lesson: you aren’t free to say and do whatever you want, to whomever you want, without facing consequences. Obviously, attacks such as these–and much, much worse–are being encouraged by leftwing Fascists in the Democrat party. So, good riddance.
tell it to the 1000’s jailed for walking around on January 6th!
I want Democrats jailed by the 10,000’s for their crimes
The great double standard lives on. That said, throwing a sandwich seems to be more of a misdemeanor than a felony. But one does wonder, can those unjustly imprisoned for mere trespassing on J6 sue for false imprisonment?
No, because that’s not what false imprisonment means.
More proof, the left has lost their minds.
The real party of hate!
Blind hatred hurts the hater more than the hated. It undermines rational assessments and leads to abiding bitterness.