Energy Department photographer loses job after leaking photo of Secretary Perry hugging coal magnate

Perry and Murray embracing

Department of Energy photographer Sim Edelman has been fired after leaking photos of Energy Secretary Rick Perry hugging coal magnate Robert Murray, the head of Murray Energy, the nation's largest coal company.

Edelman took the photos last year at a private meeting between Perry and Murray, who was a major campaign donor for Trump. One showed the men hugging, and another included the cover sheet of a confidential wish list that Murray brought to the meeting, calling for coal-friendly policy and regulatory changes. The Trump administration has fulfilled most of Murray's requests on the action plan, the contents of which have recently been revealed.

Leaking the photos seemed like "the right thing to do — exercising my First Amendment rights to get the information out there," Edelman told Ben Protess of The New York Times. The photos were published by liberal magazine In These Times on Dec. 6. The day afterward, the Energy Department put Edelman on administrative leave, then fired him later. He has filed a complaint with department's inspector general and is seeking federal whistleblower protection. In the complaint, he accuses the department of retaliation and asks for his job back, or at least the ability to recover his laptop and other personal belongings that were seized from him when he was placed on administrative leave.

The leaked photos of Murray's wish list