New York Times Fires Security Guard From Viral Biden Video

Times spokeswoman rejects security guard’s account of firing

Josh Christenson • January 20, 2022 1:30 pm

The New York Times fired an elevator security guard who went viral in a January 2020 video for fawning over then-candidate Joe Biden.

Jacquelyn Asbie told the New York Post the Gray Lady fired her for expensing the company with too many Uber rides. She said her employer promised to foot the bill during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Times, however, said the 33-year-old forged many of the receipts she submitted. The paper confirmed to the Post it let Asbie go Wednesday following a five-month investigation.

President Biden met Asbie during the Democratic primary when he visited the Times‘s Manhattan office in an attempt to earn the endorsement of the paper’s editorial board. A video of their interaction, which aired as part of the paper’s FX show The Weekly, showed a starstruck Asbie praising the candidacy of the geriatric frontrunner.

“I love you, you’re like, my favorite,” Asbie told Biden. “You are awesome, oh my God.” She later endorsed Biden at the virtual Democratic National Convention in August 2020. Since her termination, she has hinted at a run for public office.

A Times spokeswoman confirmed Asbie’s employment had been terminated but disputed her account.

“Her characterization of events is not accurate but we do not discuss the details of personnel matters,” Danielle Rhoades Ha told the Post.

On the day of her firing, Asbie also tweeted she was not “disappointed,” though she told the Post she was “very pissed off.” She did not return a Washington Free Beacon request for comment on her firing and the discrepancy between her remarks to the Post and her tweet.

Asbie, who served for four years at the paper, said the Times launched an investigation around Labor Day 2021, alleging her commuting expenses amounted to thousands of dollars more than the paper expected. At the time, she offered to have any improper charges docked from her next paycheck.

Three days before she was fired, Asbie joked on Twitter that she deserved a raise. She asked the Times to “cut me a check” as one of its few reliable, in-person employees.