NY Times guard in viral video with Biden fired over ‘bogus’ COVID-related expenses

A New York Times security guard who went viral for her serendipitous interaction with President Joe Biden in a company elevator was fired Wednesday.

Jacquelyn Asbie, 33, said she was ousted for charging The Gray Lady for too many Ubers — despite being told by her bosses that the Times would pay her commuting expenses during the pandemic so she could avoid taking the bus.

However, a source said The Times took action because she was putting in bogus receipts.

“I’m very pissed off,” Asbie told the Post Wednesday in an exclusive interview. “It’s just not fair. My boss still has his job and he approved it. I was fired over something I’m willing to pay back.”

Asbie has been commuting from New Jersey to the Times building in Midtown Manhattan five times a week since the onset of the pandemic, while the paper’s journalists mostly worked from home and the paper published countless stories about adjusting to a work-from-home lifestyle.

“If we don’t go in, we lose our jobs” said Asbie, who worked at the paper for four years and said she would “get hell for it” if she had to take a sick day.

Originally, she was grateful the Times would pay for her safer commute. Each Friday she filed her expenses and got reimbursed the next week after her manager approved the receipts — the process went smoothly.

But around Labor Day 2021, Asbie says the Times confronted her over the charges, saying she had filed some incorrectly and the receipt totals were too high.

She told her bosses to take the money out of her paychecks, even though it totaled thousands of dollars she couldn’t afford to lose. Higher-ups also told her the Times would be launching an investigation into her expenses.

“I had some incorrect receipts, receipts they weren’t sure about, I said that’s perfectly fine, they told me that we will probably just schedule a way to pay back,” she said.

On Wednesday, the Times shared the results of the findings with Asbie after almost five months since the original meeting, and told her she was terminated immediately. 

“I can confirm that Ms. Asbie is no longer an employee of The Times Company,” said company spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha. “Her characterization of events is not accurate but we do not discuss the details of personnel matters.”

Asbie caught the country’s attention in January 2020 when she escorted then-candidate Biden into an elevator in the Times’ office as he headed to a meeting with the editorial board.

“I love you. I do. You’re like my favorite,” she told Biden while snapping a selfie with him in an interaction caught in the Times’ FX show “The Weekly.”

Biden tweeted about the interaction, and the DNC played a video of Asbie formally endorsing Biden at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

“They hated me after that,” the former employee said. “They took me aside and told me it was inappropriate. They gave me a whole lecture. Matter of fact, the day after it went viral and Joe Biden tweeted it, they said I embarrassed the company.”

Asbie claims security guards are treated poorly, face “harsh intimidation” from bosses, and are looked down upon by some colleagues.

With no job, Asbie is unsure what she’ll do next.

“​​I’m definitely going to keep my options open. I would like to do podcasting,” she said.