I don't know if our good friend Stephen Gutowski of The Reload did a victory lap, but he should have; he helped bring down David Chipman. Chipman was President Dementia's pick to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). He's a noted anti-gun activist. He went on Chinese state-media to peddle those talking points, which he didn't initially disclose. His nomination went into limbo. With each passing day, the chance of his confirmation dwindled until he withdrew. It was clear Democrats simply didn't have the votes—and thank God.
Yet, Gutowski was also the one who uncovered Chipman's issues with black ATF agents. He reportedly accused these agents of cheating on performance tests and mucked up their track toward promotion. Now, he's admitted to the outlet that he did accuse this agent of cheating, but his concerns were not racially motivated (via The Reload):
President Joe Biden’s ATF director nominee corroborated more details about cheating allegations he made against an ATF agent during his time with the agency.
David Chipman, whose nomination was pulled a few weeks after news of the allegations were first reported by The Reload, confirmed he did accuse a black agent of cheating on a promotion assessment. He further confirmed the allegation was based on his judgment the agent had performed too well on the section of the assessment he oversaw. His comments confirm two parts of the black agent’s story which have not previously been corroborated.
“I believe it had to have been a bias,” the black agent, who retired with more than 25 years at the agency, told The Reload in August. “My answers were just ‘too good.’ And my thought is he just said, ‘this black guy could not have answered this well if he wasn’t cheating.'”
Chipman “emphatically” denied race played any role in the complaint and complained about the lack of pushback from the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the story.
“There was no way I would have made it out of ATF honorably if there was merit to any of that,” Chipman said in an interview with USA Today and The Trace. “My frustration was that DOJ knew all of these facts and could have put a quick end to it. It hurt me personally.”
Reacting to Chipman’s latest comments, the black agent told The Reload he did not believe his denial that the cheating allegation was not racially motivated.
Bad story, man—but it was just one of many issues with Chipman. Gutowski noted how the rank-and-file were not so keen about Chipman's activist past. It could make FFL dealers unwilling to cooperate with the ATF on cracking down on illegal guns, which speaks to his effectiveness in the top spot there. It appears that the man was just too looney, even for Democrats, and that's saying something.
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