The ranking Republican on the Senate's Energy Committee has called for controversial non-binary Department of Energy official Sam Brinton to be fired 'immediately.'

Non-binary Brinton, 34, is under investigation in Minnesota over the theft of a woman's suitcase at the airport. 

The MIT-educated nuclear scientist admitted taking the suitcase from the baggage carousel on September 16, bringing it to their hotel in St.

Paul, and then leaving the city with the bag in tow.

Later, they were recorded in Washington DC's Dulles Airport with the bag, having returned from a European trip, where they apparently used the suitcase as if it were their own. The suitcase's contents were valued at over $2,300, according to the victim.

Now, Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, has sent a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, calling for Brinton to be fired.

The official is facing five years in prison in relation to the theft. 

Barrasso wrote: 'It is in the interest of both the Department's mission and our national security that the Deputy Assistant Secretary's clearance be immediately revoked.'

He continued: 'Additionally, the Department should undertake all necessary steps to terminate their employment immediately.'

Previously, Barrasso questioned Granholm about the department's security clearance practices. 

He wrote: 'The Department's inability to respond to my concerns regarding the DOE's clearance process is indicative of an egregious inattention to potential insider threats within the Department and the greater safety of the American public.'

The senator went on: 'Accordingly, I am requesting that you immediately launch a comprehensive review of the Department's security clearance adjudication process and report to me the findings no later than February 1, 2023.'

In a brief statement on the scandal, the Department of Energy said in a statement: 'Sam Brinton is on leave from DOE, and Dr.

Kim Petry is performing the duties of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition. 

Yesterday, DailyMail.com revealed that Brinton was in Minnesota, where the bag theft took place, for the Out for Undergrad Engineering Conference.

The conference was held at the InterContinental Saint Paul Riverfront hotel in St.
Paul, the same hotel where Brinton was staying. 

Some time between that conference and October 9, Brinton traveled for a trip to Europe. They did not post about this trip on their social media pages. 

At first Brinton told police they 'accidentally' took the suitcase - with contents worth $2,325 - from Minneapolis-St.

Paul International Airport on September 16 around 4:45 pm. 

They said: 'If I had taken the wrong bag, I am happy to return it, but I don't have clothes for another individual,' Brinton told police, .
'That was my clothes when I opened the bag.' 

However, they finally came clean and admitted to taking the bag - although blamed 'tiredness' for the 'mistake'. 

Brinton used the bag for their personal travel over the course of the following month. 

Brinton was not traveling with a checked bag when they arrived in Minnesota and picked up the Vera Bradley 26-inch navy blue hard-sided roller bag worth $295. 

A hearing is scheduled in the case on December 19. 

In charging documents, a police officers said that she gave Brinton specific instructions on how to return the bag, something they have failed to do.

The bag in question belonged to a woman who was traveling with her son from New Orleans. 

Neither the Hennepin County Attorney's office or Brinton's attorney, Fabian Hoffner, have responded to multiple requests for comment surrounding the story.

The incident has drawn the attention of multiple right-wing figures on Twitter.

Recently re-elected congresswoman Rep. Lauren Boebert, 35, posted a pic of Brinton in a dress and tweeted: 'This man, hired by Joe Biden, is a thief.'

While ex-President Donald Trump's son, Donald Jr., 44, posted a screengrab of the DailyMail.com's coverage of the story and wrote: 'Who could have seen this coming from they/them?' 

Former Newsmax host John Cardillo tweeted: 'Mentally ill freak and Biden appointee Sam Brinton charged with stealing woman's luggage at MSP. This lunatic knows all of America's nuclear secrets.' 

While one-time Trump advisor in the White House Clearance Sebastian Gorka posted a photo of Brinton on social media and wrote: 'So this Biden official turns out to be a criminal?

Does he still have his DoE Q Clearance?' 

Speaking about the incident during an interview with Jesse Watters on Hoover Institute senior fellow Victor Davis and the focus on Brinton's gender identity rather than their crime. 

Davis said: '[You can] live in society as long as you don't essentialize your race or your gender or your sexual persuasion, but when you make that essential to you are, then you have to play by the rules and if you have a downside, people are going to say, "Well, that's part of your essential character."'

He continued: 'So that's his problem, that he started out releasing pictures of himself in drag, talking about being a transgender person. And that became his essence.

If that's his essence, and then he commits theft, and then he lies about it to the police, and those are felonies, then he's going to be identified as a transgender person.'

The fellow went on to accuse 'the left' of making a person's race, gender and sexual identity 'essential.'

He said: 'They essentialize it.
Then they take the downside along with the publicity upside. I don't think they want the upside, but they're not willing to say, ‘Well, don't characterize me as transgender,' and I think that's the problem.'