Rosie O’Donnell, GoFundMe donors close in on $100K goal for woman who flipped off Trump

A GoFundMe campaign for an angry woman who gave President Trump’s motorcade the middle finger on Oct. 28 has raised nearly $100,000.

Juli Briskman was terminated from her government contractor job at Akima LLC on Oct. 31, just three days after her anti-Trump gesture went viral online. The ensuing media firestorm, which included an interview on NBC’s “Megyn Kelly Today,” prompted nearly 4,000 people to pitch in to help pay her bills.

“I was shocked and worried about many things,” Ms. Briskman, 50, wrote in a statement posted to the GoFundMe page on Tuesday. “How and when to tell my children? […] How would I pay for healthcare? How much money do I have in my savings to cover our mortgage and general living expenses in Northern Virginia and how long will it last? How long will it take to land another job? […] Through your very generous donations, many of those heavy burdens have been lifted.”

Ms. O’Donnell, a well-known celebrity critic of Mr. Trump, was the second-largest donor with a $1,000 gift.

An anonymous donor contributed $1,500.

“I am not sure what the future holds, but I am buoyed by your support. For now, I can just say THANK YOU and promise to be a good steward of these funds,” Ms. Briskman added. “Help spread the word!”

Akima LLC recently released a statement on its website saying it expects all “employees, officers and directors to exercise good judgment and maintain high ethical standards in all activities which affect Akima. Every Akima employee is held to these standards.”

Ms. Briskman maintains that she was unjustly fired because another employee kept his job after calling someone on Facebook “a f-ing Libtard a-hole.”

“How is that any less ’obscene’ than me flipping off the president?” she asked HuffPost on Nov. 6. “How is that fair? [Mr. Trump] was passing by, and my blood just started to boil. I’m thinking, DACA recipients are getting kicked out. He pulled ads for open enrollment in Obamacare.”