By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Alleging a pattern of “gross and substantial waste, fraud and abuse, as well as potentially criminal false certification of government records and whistleblower retaliation” involving two senior officials at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst want Attorney General Pamela Bondi to take “immediate corrective action.”
In a letter to Bondi, Acting ATF Director Daniel Driscoll and Assistant Attorney General Jolene Ann Lauria, who heads the Justice Department’s Administration Justice Management Division, Grassley and Ernst assert their previous efforts during the Biden administration went essentially unanswered.
“The Biden administration’s ATF illegally lined employees’ pockets with tens-of-millions of taxpayer dollars,” Grassley said in a joint statement. “These Washington bureaucrats must answer for their misconduct, and if heads don’t roll, nothing will change. Without the continued persistence of brave whistleblowers, ATF’s illegal scheme would’ve likely continued. As always, sunshine is the best disinfectant. Attorney General Pam Bondi should take strong action to hold these Biden-era pencil pushers accountable and end the fraudulent waste at ATF.”
Named in their letter and statement are ATF Senior Executive Lisa Boykin and Justice Management Division (JMD) Acting Deputy Director of Human Resources (HR) Ralph Bittelari.
According to their May 9 letter to Bondi, both GOP senators recall their request for the ATF Internal Affairs Division (IAD) report and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Human Capital Management Evaluation (HCME) audit report, following allegations about ATF’s “illegal scheme to misclassify human resources (HR) and other administrative positions as law enforcement, which was substantiated by the Office of Special Counsel.”
In our previous letters, we requested the agencies provide us with the ATF Internal Affairs Division (IAD) report and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Human Capital Management Evaluation (HCME) audit report.
“The IAD report was completed on January 5, 2024,” the Grassley-Ernst letter notes, “and it highlights considerable evidence of gross waste, fraud, and abuse; substantial misconduct and mismanagement; abuse of power; and potential criminal misconduct…”
The ATF has been under intense criticism for many years, especially for activities during the past four years under the Biden administration’s “zero tolerance” policy against firearms retailers. Even small paperwork errors were targeted, critics have asserted. It was part of the Biden administration’s alleged “weaponization” of federal agencies against gun dealers and gun owners.
As evidence of how bad feelings on Capitol Hill have been running against the ATF, in January Republican Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and Congressman Eric Burlison of Missouri, introduced H.R. 129, known as the “Abolish the ATF Act.” The legislation is co-sponsored by Reps. Andy Biggs (AZ-05), Mike Collins (GA-10), Bob Onder (MO-03), Andy Ogles (TN-05), Mary Miller (IL-15), Keith Self (TX-03), and Paul Gosar (AZ-09). It was assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.
Grassley and Ernst asked Bondi for a response by May 23 to include “the strategy the Justice Department will take in addressing the issues raised in this letter, as well as answers to our January 30, 2024 and September 23, 2024 letters.”
