Goosehead Insurance associate general counsel, Paul Davis, was terminated after a live-streamed video shared to social media showed the Texas lawyer’s participation in Wednesday’s breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Gooshead confirmed Davis was “no longer employed” in a tweet Thursday.
According to a memo to employees obtained by Bloomberg Law, Goosehead CEO and co-founder Mark Jones said the company was not aware of Davis’ plans to be part of the “violent demonstration.”
“While we support our employees’ right to vote and express themselves politically, we do not condone violent or illegal acts. This one former employee’s actions are not reflective of our company culture or values, and we are disappointed with his behavior,” Jones reportedly said in the Thursday morning message. “Thankfully, we have the cherished rights of assembly and free speech, but those rights do not—and cannot—extend to violence in any form.”
Goosehead Insurance did not immediately return FOX News’ request for comment.
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Salon staff writer Roger Sollenberger shared a series of clips from Davis’ live streams in a tweet and tagged Goosehead. As of Thursday evening, the video has been viewed over 1.8 million times.
“Today he stormed the capitol building in an attempt to stage a coup against the US government and documented it (!) on Instagram,” Sollenberger wrote.
“All we’re doing is demanding that our public officials audit the Dominon machines, audit the ballots. There’s a way to do it, we can solve this in two days,” Davis said in the video clip. “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.”
Davis implied wrongdoing because there will not be an audit.
“The fact that they will not let us inspect any of the ballots or the machines should tell you something,” Davis continued. “We’re all trying to get into the Capitol to stop this and this is what’s happening…they’re tear gassing us and this is not acceptable, not acceptable, the people are not going to stand for this.”
Trump supporters descended on the Capitol Building on Wednesday as a joint session of Congress was certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, causing lawmakers to go into lockdown. The riot left four dead, including one pro-Trump demonstrator who was shot and killed by Capitol Hill police, and at least 68 arrests, according to Washington police.
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Davis graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 2011, according to a profile on the State Bar of Texas’ website.
Despite being fired from Goosehead, the State Bar of Texas confirmed to FOX News that Davis is still eligible to practice law in the state.
“When a Texas-licensed lawyer is subject to public controversy, it is common for people to call for the State Bar of Texas to quickly disbar or otherwise sanction the lawyer — or to comment on the attorney’s case,” the organization said in a statement. “Under Texas state law, the attorney disciplinary system is a deliberative process with checks and balances designed to protect Texans from unethical attorneys while ensuring due process for lawyers accused of wrongdoing.”
The State Bar of Texas is never able to “immediately discipline an attorney, but instead proceeds deliberately through the process with sanctions issued as appropriate under law according to the facts of each case.”
In addition, state law requires the State Bar of Texas to keep all disciplinary case information confidential unless it has been filed in district court or resulted in a public sanction.
“As a result, the State Bar is typically unable to discuss the existence of pending grievances or confirm investigations into potential attorney wrongdoing,” the agency added. “The State Bar of Texas is committed to protecting the public by ensuring lawyers follow the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure.”
Anyone who believes a lawyer has violated the State Bar’s rules can file a grievance with the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel.
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Law & Crime reported that Davis denied wrongdoing in a post to Instagram.
“For those of you claiming I was trying to ‘storm the Capitol,’ it’s obvious from my entire story that I was peacefully demonstrating,” Davis wrote, according to the outlet. “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.”
In a follow-up post, Davis reportedly added he did not intend anything violent by saying they were “trying to get into the capitol,” but that he was discussing protest.
“The Twitter video is out of context, just like they do to all conservative patriots,” he said.
Davis’ Instagram account has since been made private. He did not immediately return multiple requests from FOX News for comment.
Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.