LOOK’S FAMILIAR
New woe for Joe's former Energy official
A fashion designer from Houston was left “confused and upset” when she saw Sam Brinton wearing what appeared to be her unique designs — after she had lost a bag containing her dresses from a Washington, DC, airport in 2018.
Asya Khamsin posted a series of pictures online showing the disgraced former Department of Energy official — who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns — wearing elaborate dresses side-by-side with her missing dress designs, which look identical.
Speaking from Zanzibar, Khamsin told The Post: “I was thinking, ‘Who took my bag, where is it?’ for a long time. Then I see images of the outfits [being worn by Brinton], and I was so confused and upset. I was thinking, where did he get those clothes — because I didn’t think he was a thief.”
Khamsin explained there were around 30 pieces in the bag, including dresses and jewelry which she had displayed at the Lady In Red fashion show she runs in her native Tanzania.
She had traveled through Ronald Reagan Washington Airport in DC on March 9, 2018, on her way home to Houston to display them in a fashion show but was unable to partake after the bag went missing.
Brinton even appeared in a 2022 Vanity Fair spread — titled “All the Style of Sam Brinton” — wearing what appears to be one of Khamsin’s dresses, according to social media sleuths who made the connection.
Brinton, 35, served as the Biden administration’s deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition at the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy before they were canned last year after being charged with stealing a woman’s suitcase from a Minneapolis airport in September and another woman’s bag from a Las Vegas airport in July.
In both the Minnesota and Nevada cases, Brinton had traveled on flights from Washington, DC, before allegedly swiping the bags from the airports’ baggage carousels, according to criminal complaints.
Khamsin said she does not accuse Brinton of stealing her clothes and does not know how they ended up with them.
Her husband filed reports with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department and a claim with Delta Air Lines, but the bag was never recovered.
After seeing the photos of Brinton wearing what she believes are her clothes on the news, Khamsin filed a report with Houston police on Dec. 16. In late January, she was contacted by the FBI field office in Minneapolis, Khamsin’s husband told Fox News.
The FBI would not confirm that it is investigating, per the agency’s policy. As of Wednesday night, Brinton had not been charged with any crime related to Khamsin’s clothes.
Brinton was released without bail and ordered not to contact any of the victims last week after a court appearance in Minnesota.