FBI Director Kash Patel, whom the Senate confirmed after President Donald Trump nominated him to lead the Bureau, is expected to temporarily take over the helm of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), according to two unnamed sources within the Justice Department. The two government sources told the Associated Press that Patel would be officially sworn in as the ATF's acting director next week.
The rumors come after Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ATF general counsel, Pamela Hicks, on Feb. 20, one day after Patel was sworn in as the ninth FBI director in a largely party-line vote in the Senate. A longtime Trump loyalist, Patel won confirmation despite two never-Trumper Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, joining forces with Democrats in opposition to his nomination.
The newly confirmed FBI director was the chief of staff to the Secretary of Defense in the last weeks of the first Trump administration and was a big critic of the widely discredited Mueller investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. Patel has also criticized the misuse of the FBI's surveillance powers and has advocated for the establishment of a “24/7 declassification office.”
Steven Dettelbach, former president Joe Biden's ATF director, who oversaw the implementation of the outgoing administration's last-minute gun control restrictions, resigned his office two days before Trump's inauguration on January 18. Dettelbach, who was confirmed in 2022, was the first ATF director the Senate confirmed since 2015 after legislators blocked previous nominees.
The ATF is the law enforcement agency within the DOJ that enforces federal laws against the illegal use, sale, and distribution of firearms, explosives, alcohol, and tobacco products.
President Trump signed an executive order earlier this month that halted "existing policies designed to curtail the clear right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.”
“The Biden administration has flagrantly sought to eliminate Second Amendment rights. Among other infringements, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was weaponized to end the livelihoods of law-abiding small business owners in an effort to limit Americans’ ability to acquire firearms,” the White House added in a press release.
The agency is facing harsh criticism from gun owners and House Republicans who have highlighted several attempted infringements of the Second Amendment, particularly after ATF officials circumvented Congress with gun control rules in the last weeks of the Biden administration.
Biden instructed the ATF to introduce multiple gun control regulations, including so-called “ghost gun” restrictions, an “engaged in the business” rule, designed to expand federal background checks, and a ban on AR-15 pistol stabilizer braces.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), and Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), along with several House Republicans, introduced legislation in January that would abolish the agency completely. Last November, Burlison called on Congress to eliminate the ATF in reaction to the latest gun restrictions.
Burlison advertised his bill, H.R. 221, in a Fed. 22 post on X, which he said is designed to “Abolish the ATF," and added, “Eliminate this redundant agency that consistently violates Second Amendment rights.”
Boebert added in a statement, “I cannot imagine under any circumstance or administration where the ATF serves as an ally to the Second Amendment and law-abiding firearm owners across America."
Bondi said she fired Hicks for allegedly being one of the ringleaders at the DOJ who were intent on weaponizing the agency.
“These people were targeting gun owners. Not gonna happen under this administration,” she told Fox News in an interview. Bondi has said she would clean up the ATF for wrongly "targeting gun owners" and declared that this behavior wasn't "gonna happen under this administration."
"Earlier today, I was served official notice from the Attorney General of the United States that I was being removed from my position as the Chief Counsel of ATF and my employment with the Department of Justice terminated," Hicks wrote on her LinkedIn page.
"Serving as ATF Chief Counsel has been the highest honor of my career and working with the people at ATF and throughout the Department has been a pleasure," Hicks continued in her post. "I thank my colleagues for their friendship and partnership over the years."
Meanwhile, President Trump nominated former NYPD officer and Secret Service agent Dan Bongino to be Kash's Deputy Director of the FBI on Feb. 23, calling him "a man of incredible love and passion for our Country."
"Working with our great new United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and Director Patel, Fairness, Justice, Law and Order will be brought back to America, and quickly. Congratulations Dan!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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