A woman who lost her job after a photo of her flipping off President Trump's motorcade went viral worked for a NANA Regional Corp. business, according to news accounts.
Juli Briskman was riding her bike when the caravan of black SUVs passed her leaving Trump National Golf Club the afternoon of Oct. 28, according to the Guardian. She raised her middle finger, then repeated the gesture when she caught up with the motorcade. The club is an 800-acre property along the Potomac River in Sterling, Virginia.
Woman fired for flipping off Trump's motorcade https://t.co/HLU1nPug8g pic.twitter.com/ZZlrPBSzFC
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) November 6, 2017
A journalist who was part of the White House press pool following the president snapped a picture, and the pool report described the scene.
The image went viral on Twitter and Facebook under the hashtag #her2020. Briskman identified herself as the cyclist and posted the picture as her cover shot on Facebook.
The following Monday, Briskman, 50, told her bosses at Akima LLC, a NANA subsidiary, what had happened, according to an account in the Washington Post. The next day, they fired her, then escorted her out of the building with a box of her things, according to the Huffington Post.
"I wasn't even at work when I did that," she told the Washington Post. "But they told me I violated the code of conduct policy."
Akima has a portfolio of government contractors and private businesses in information technology, cybersecurity, aviation, construction and more.
It is owned by NANA Development Corp., which manages businesses for the Kotzebue-region Alaska Native corporation.
In firing her, Akima officials told her the photo could hurt business since Akima is a government contractor, Huffington Post reported.
Briskman worked in marketing and communications at Akima for about six months.
Reporter Erica Martinson contributed to this story.