- The Washington Times - Monday, November 6, 2017

A woman whose decision to flip off President Trump’s motorcade resulted in a pink slip now says her old employer used a double standard to make it happen.

The hashtag #Her2020 and media attention started shortly after an Oct. 28 bike ride in which Juli Briskman was photographed giving the president’s motorcade the middle finger in Sterling, Virginia. The woman’s job with government contractor Akima LLC, however, ended after a trip to its human resources department.

Ms. Briskman, 50, now says that Akima LLC’s rationale for terminating her employment (she highlighted the image, taken by a White House photographer, on her Facebook and Twitter profiles), rings hollow.

“They said, ’We’re separating from you,’” she told HuffPost on Monday. “Basically, you cannot have ’lewd’ or ’obscene’ things in your social media. So they were calling flipping him off ’obscene.’ “

Ms. Briskman told the website that the consequences for her violation were unfair since another employee was permitted to keep his job after deleting a Facebook post calling someone a “a f-ing Libtard a-hole.”

“How is that any less ’obscene’ than me flipping off the president?” she asked. “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. Only one-third of Puerto Rico has power. I’m thinking, he’s at the damn golf course again.”

Executives allegedly told the marketing and communications specialist that her actions could cost the company future contracts.

“In some ways, I’m doing better than ever,” she added. “I’m angry about where our country is right now. I am appalled. This was an opportunity for me to say something.”

Akima LLC did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.

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