North Texas Lawyer Fired After Filming Himself Outside of the Capitol Goes Viral

After participating in the Capitol Hill riots, North Texas Attorney Paul Davis has found himself out of a job.

The Capitol Hill riots left destruction never before seen in our nation's modern history. Not only did the rioters cause chaos and destruction, but the events of Wednesday afternoon left four protesters and one officer dead. Like many other protesters both inside and outside the building, Davis turned to his social media to live stream the events taking place. His live stream would soon have immediate consequences in the termination of his employment.

The Court of Public Opinion Issues a Verdict

Davis was Associate General Counsel at Goosehead Insurance up until his company fired him after a viral video of him participating in Wednesday's protest-turned-riot circulated through Twitter. The video has amassed more than 1.7 million views, prompting the public to weigh in on their opinion of the attorney.

Davis shared a video of himself on the Capitol building on his Instagram. The video was later retweeted by journalist Roger Sollenberger. In the retweet, Sollenberger identified Davis and his place of employment. Sollenberger captioned the video, “This is Paul Davis. Paul is a lawyer. He’s also associate general counsel & director of human resources at Goosehead Insurance. Today he stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to stage a coup against the US government and documented it on Instagram.”

After Sollenberger shared the video, it quickly circulated throughout the internet, drawing criticism from many.

Photo Source: Paul Davis (Twitter) In the video, Davis can be seen standing at the Capitol building in front of a row of officers in tactical gear. Davis speaks directly to the camera and says the following regarding his intent, "All we are doing is demanding that our public officials audit the vote. Audit the voting machines, audit the ballots. There's a way to do it. We can solve this in two days. If this was a legitimate election, then let us inspect it. And if Biden won, let's all go on with our lives. But you know what, I don't think that happened. The fact that they will not let us inspect any of the ballots or any of the machines should tell you something and we are all trying to get into the Capitol to stop this, and this is what is happening. They're tear gassing us and it's not acceptable. People are not going to stand for this."

Thursday afternoon, Goosehead Insurance tweeted an update that read simply, “Paul Davis Associate General Counsel, is no longer employed by Goosehead.”

Goosehead Insurance also updated its voicemail to include a recording that states, “Thank you for contacting Goosehead. The employee involved in the protest at the Capitol is no longer employed with us. If you have further questions, please leave a voicemail and we will return it as soon as possible. Thank you."

Local news stations and other outlets have yet to get an official statement from the company regarding Davis' termination.

Davis Fights Back Against Allegations

Along with losing his position at the insurance company, the Twitterverse responded with calls for Davis to face jail time for his participation in the riots. There have been some supporters of Davis' participation in the protest who are quick to point out that in the video, Davis is not explicitly committing a crime.

In a follow-up tweet Instagram message, Davis responded to the backlash in defense of himself with the following statements, "For those of you claiming I was trying to storm the Capitol is obvious from my entire story that I was peacefully demonstrating. They gassed the entire crowd that was standing there with me. I was not trying to break in. Was just talking to the police officers and praying over them."

Davis also clarified his intent by explaining, "And I said 'trying to get into the Capitol' meaning to voice a protest. Not in any violent way. The Twitter video is out of context, just like they do to all conservative patriots... Don't get me wrong. I'm not calling for violence here. I think MLK-style civil disobedience is the way to go to demand a full audit of the vote. That takes courage. I already lost my job because of the Twitter mob. I'm not upset. I'm thankful to be suffering for righteousness and freedom."