Attorney General Pam Bondi fired another Department of Justice (DOJ) paralegal on Friday, this time after the employee insulted a member of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.
Elizabeth Baxter, who worked in the department’s environmental division, arrived for work around 8:20 a.m. on Aug. 18 at the DOJ’s “4CON” building in the NoMa district. According to the New York Post, she bragged to a security guard that she had just flipped off a guardsman at the Metro Center station and yelled, “F–k the National Guard.”
“Today, I took action to terminate a DOJ employee for inappropriate conduct towards National Guard service members in DC,” Bondi told the outlet.
“This DOJ remains committed to defending President Trump’s agenda and fighting to make America safe again,” she added. “If you oppose our mission and disrespect law enforcement — you will NO LONGER work at DOJ.”
Later that same day, security footage from the DOJ reportedly showed Baxter once again making the obscene gesture at the National Guard and shouting “F–k you!” She was also said to have demonstrated the gesture to a department security guard.
On Aug. 25, Baxter allegedly repeated the behavior, telling a security guard she hated the National Guard and had told them to “F–k off.”
“You are removed from your position of Paralegal Specialist, GS-0950-11, Environmental Defense Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and from the federal service, effective immediately,” Bondi wrote in a termination letter to Baxter on Friday, following an investigation.
The Trump administration has recently increased the presence of federal law enforcement in D.C. to reduce crime. Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops have been deployed across the city.
Baxter’s firing follows the earlier termination of Sean Charles Dunn, another DOJ paralegal, who was accused of throwing a sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. Dunn, who worked in the criminal division’s international affairs section, was initially charged with a felony, but a grand jury declined to indict him. He was later charged with a misdemeanor, which could carry up to one year in jail.
