Nonbinary Biden energy official Sam Brinton fired after alleged luggage thefts

The Biden administration official accused of stealing airport luggage has been fired from his post at the Energy Department.

The department had hailed Sam Brinton as a barrier breaker on gender matters because he identifies as “nonbinary.”

“Sam Brinton is no longer a DOE employee,” a Department of Energy spokesperson told The Daily Beast on Monday evening. “By law, the Department of Energy cannot comment further on personnel matters.”

Mr. Brinton, 35, has been the deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition at the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy since his June appointment.

He has been charged with stealing a woman’s suitcase from a Minneapolis airport in September and another woman’s bag from a Las Vegas airport in July.

According to police in Las Vegas, Mr. Brinton was spotted on the baggage claim area’s surveillance cameras taking a $320 woman’s bag that contained more than $3,500 worth of jewelry, clothing and cosmetics.

Mr. Brinton, who does not identify as either male or female, was described in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s arrest warrant, according to the New York Post, as “a white male adult wearing a white T-shirt with a large rainbow-colored atomic nuclear symbol design.”

He also faces felony theft charges in a September theft at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, in which a woman’s Vera Bradley suitcase with $2,325 worth of contents was snatched from baggage claim.

Mr. Brinton had been put on leave from the DOE agency over the Minnesota theft charge.

Both charges are felonies that could lead to years-long prison terms.