FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to be sworn in early this week as the acting director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to Justice Department officials familiar with the matter.
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It is unclear what President Donald Trump’s long-term plans are for ATF — a 5,000-person agency that is responsible for regulating the sales and licensing of firearms and whose agents often work with local law enforcement to solve gun crimes.
But for now, Patel will have the unusual responsibility of operating two large and consequential agencies that are part of the Justice Department. The people who spoke about his added role did so on the condition of anonymity to discuss a plan that had not yet been announced.
Patel was sworn in Friday as the director of the FBI despite concerns from every Democratic senator and two Republican senators who voted against his nomination over concerns that he lacked the temperament and experience needed for such a powerful law enforcement role.
During the first month of the Trump administration, Justice Department officials have fired or pushed out top leaders in the FBI and have suggested they could terminate more. On Patel’s first day leading the bureau, FBI managers were told Friday that up to 1,500 staff and agents would be transferred out of the bureau’s Washington headquarters to satellite offices across the country.
There haven’t been as many shake-ups yet at ATF. But on Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the general counsel at the agency. She later touted that move, saying in an interview on Fox News that “these people were targeting gun owners. Not going to happen under this administration.”
Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.
It is unclear what President Donald Trump’s long-term plans are for ATF — a 5,000-person agency that is responsible for regulating the sales and licensing of firearms and whose agents often work with local law enforcement to solve gun crimes.
But for now, Patel will have the unusual responsibility of operating two large and consequential agencies that are part of the Justice Department. The people who spoke about his added role did so on the condition of anonymity to discuss a plan that had not yet been announced.
Patel was sworn in Friday as the director of the FBI despite concerns from every Democratic senator and two Republican senators who voted against his nomination over concerns that he lacked the temperament and experience needed for such a powerful law enforcement role.
During the first month of the Trump administration, Justice Department officials have fired or pushed out top leaders in the FBI and have suggested they could terminate more. On Patel’s first day leading the bureau, FBI managers were told Friday that up to 1,500 staff and agents would be transferred out of the bureau’s Washington headquarters to satellite offices across the country.
There haven’t been as many shake-ups yet at ATF. But on Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the general counsel at the agency. She later touted that move, saying in an interview on Fox News that “these people were targeting gun owners. Not going to happen under this administration.”
