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EXCLUSIVE: Biden ATF promoted agents involved in ‘illegal’ scheme to inflate salaries, GOP senators say
Two Senate Republicans are calling for immediate corrective action at the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), accusing agency officials of substantial misconduct, mismanagement, abuse of power and potential criminal misconduct after supervisory staff allegedly disregarded federal directives and standards in order to inflate their salaries.
What’s more, instead of being disciplined, the supervisory agents who allegedly turned a blind eye to the misconduct – and in some cases allegedly retaliated against whistleblowers trying to expose it – were promoted under the Biden administration, the senators say.
«As a result of ATF’s illegal conduct, ATF staff assigned to these positions performed administrative work but unlawfully received enhanced law enforcement pay and benefits to which they were not entitled, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars,» Iowa’s Republican senators, Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, wrote in a letter transmitted Friday to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and ATF acting Director Daniel Driscoll.
ARMY SECRETARY DAN DRISCOLL TO LEAD ATF, REPLACING FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL
In their letter, the senators cited two internal investigations from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which concluded in 2020 and ultimately suspended the ATF’s classification authority, and the ATF Internal Affairs Division (IAD), which was completed in early 2024. Despite the suspension from OPM in 2020, which was lifted in 2023, ATF officials disregarded OPM directives and continued to re-classify agency employees improperly, according to the senators.
Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are calling for immediate corrective action at the ATF, accusing supervisory agents there of turning a blind eye to a criminal scheme to inflate their salaries and, in turn, getting rewarded for it by the Biden administration. (Getty Images/Fox News)
In their letter, Grassley and Ernst singled out two supervisory agents, Lisa Boykin and Ralph Bittelari, who they say the IAD audit shows not only allowed the continuance of this misclassification scheme – despite knowing it violated OPM directives and standards – but also retaliated against whistleblowers trying to expose it.
Furthermore, the senators claim, Boykin and Bittelari were promoted before President Joe Biden left office and continue to work at the ATF under President Donald Trump.
In one instance, according to the senators, Bittelari and Boykin decided to move forward with the relocation of an ATF law enforcement officer in Phoenix to an administrative position at ATF headquarters in Washington, D.C., despite OPM identifying the position as misclassified. The IAD report allegedly shows Bittelari initially agreed to rescind the job offer, but following a subsequent conversation with Boykin decided to move forward with the unauthorized relocation anyway.
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Furthermore, the senators alleged in their letter that the IAD report shows Bittelari attempted to hide the «unlawful assignment» by submitting the promotion directly to payroll for processing.
During another instance when Bittelari sought to improperly classify a position description for the chief of ATF’s Workforce Wellness and Services Division (WWSD) as law enforcement, the senators said a human resources classification specialist was threatened with insubordination after recusing herself from the matter and sending an email notifying staff it was a violation of OPM directives and standards.
The senator’s letter also highlighted Boykin’s «troubling lack of candor» regarding the installation of the chief of WWSD. According to the senators, Boykin told IAD investigators she was unsure if the chief of WWSD had been installed prior to the position description ever being adequately approved. However, the senators said, Boykin’s emails showed the individual attended meetings and functions with Boykin as WWSD chief prior to receiving approval, and a draft position description was created jointly by the pair weeks before the official WWSD chief position description was approved.
«The findings in the IAD report present clear evidence that corrective action must be taken for, at minimum, Ms. Boykin’s and Mr. Bittelari’s gross misconduct,» the senators wrote. «Yet, the Biden ATF and DOJ leadership not only failed to hold Boykin or Bittelari accountable for their gross misconduct, but legally protected whistleblower disclosures provided to our offices show these career DOJ bureaucrats were promoted after the conclusion of the IAD investigation that harshly criticized their actions.»
The senators point out in their letter that Boykin was promoted to chief diversity officer under Biden, but in January 2025 her title was switched to «Senior Executive.» Meanwhile, the senators also pointed out Bittelari was promoted to senior advisor at the Justice Department’s Justice Management Division (JMD), and later acting deputy director of human resources within JMD.
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«In closing, the findings in the IAD and OPM audit reports further substantiate the claims whistleblowers made to our offices that senior ATF bureaucrats, Ms. Boykin and Mr. Bittelari, engaged in gross and substantial waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct at the expense of taxpayers in furtherance of ATF’s illegal misclassification scheme, retaliated against whistleblowers for exposing it, and then were promoted for it,» stated Grassley and Ernst’s letter to Bondi and Driscoll.
«Their complete disregard for the law despite being ‘fully aware of the potential consequences’ show Boykin and Bittelari should not have leadership positions at the Justice Department or its components.»
The ATF has previously come under fire for «circumventing» a directive by President Donald Trump to curbing DEI efforts at federal agencies. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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In addition to calling for corrective action, Grassley and Ernst requested that no later than May 23 the Justice Department submit a response on how it plans to address the issues laid out in the IAD report and their letter.
The Justice Department declined to comment for this article, while the ATF did not respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiries.
Senate,Republicans,Chuck Grassley,Politics,Second Amendment,Iowa
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New York Attorney General Letitia James was arraigned at a federal court in Norfolk, Virginia, Friday, where she pleaded not guilty to two felony charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.
The charges against James stem from her 2020 purchase of a home in Norfolk, Virginia. Prosecutors allege that James misled a bank about the nature of the residence in order to obtain more favorable loan conditions.
The indictment states that James misrepresented the financial institution in claiming it would be her secondary residence, and instead rented it out to a family.
According to the indictment, the lower interest rate would allow James to save nearly $19,000 over the course of the 30-year loan.
LETITIA JAMES TO BE ARRAIGNED IN VIRGINIA ON FEDERAL BANK FRAUD CHARGES TIED TO 2020 HOME PURCHASE
NY AG Letitia James and President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
James entered the not guilty plea herself to U.S. District Judge Jamar K. Walker.
She is being represented in the case by defense attorney Abbe Lowell, and by Andrew Bosse, a former assistant U.S. attorney based in Norfolk who formerly headed up the office’s criminal division.
James’ arraignment is the latest in a string of prosecutions brought against the president’s perceived political foes, despite objections from career prosecutors — some of whom have since been fired or resigned.
James, a Democrat, has long-drawn Trump’s ire after she campaigned for attorney general in 2016 largely on vows to investigate Trump’s actions and businesses.
She also successfully secured a $450 million civil fraud case against him last year, though an appeals court later tossed the financial penalty portion of the case.
«This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system,» James said in a statement after she was indicted.
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Trump denies B1 bombers flew toward Venezuela amid cartel threats. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
«These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,» she added.
Her indictment, like the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, was presented to a grand jury by former White House aide Lindsey Halligan, whom President Donald Trump installed as the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia last month.
Trump, in September, said he would install Halligan as the top prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, replacing interim attorney Erik Siebert, who resigned under pressure to indict both Comey and James.
«No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,» Halligan said in a statement. «The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.»
After the arraignment, it is likely that she will file a motion to dismiss her case for vindictive and selective prosecution, following similar steps taken by Comey’s legal team in Alexandria earlier this week.
She will also file a motion to dismiss her case based on what her lawyers will argue was the unlawful appointment of Halligan in securing her indictment.
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Lowell, her attorney, has described the case against her as «improper political retribution,» and vowed they would «fight these charges in every process allowed in the law.»
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment on the case, or whether Halligan or Keller would be joined by any other federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Speaking to reporters outside the court on Friday, James said the Justice Department is being used as a tool of «revenge,» and a «vehicle of retribution.»
«But my faith is strong,» she told the group that had massed outside the courthouse in Norfolk, Virginia, hours earlier. «I have a belief in the justice system.»
«Never cow down or break or bend. So there is no fear today,» she said. «I will not be deterred.»
Judge Walker set a trial date for Jan. 26, 2026, and ordered parties to appear back in court for motions hearings in early December.
politics,new york,federal courts,donald trump,crime world,virginia
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US kills 6 suspected narco-terrorists in overnight strike on alleged drug smuggling boat, Hegseth says
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President Donald Trump directed a nighttime U.S. strike on a suspected Tren de Aragua vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing six alleged narco-terrorists, officials say.
«Overnight, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea,» War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on X sharing an accompanying video of the strike. «The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics.»
«Six male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters — and was the first strike at night,» he said. «All six terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.»
HEGSETH SAYS US CONDUCTED ANOTHER STRIKE IN EASTERN PACIFIC TARGETING ALLEGED NARCO-TRAFFICKERS
This infrared image released by the Department of War shows a suspected Tren de Aragua vessel in international waters of the Caribbean Sea before a U.S. nighttime strike that killed six alleged narco-terrorists, officials said. (Department of War/Pete Hegseth)
Hegseth further warned, «If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat [al Qaeda]. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.»
The strike marks the 10th operation targeting suspected drug traffickers since Trump returned to office. The president has made combating the nation’s drug crisis a central policy focus.
The first strike took place on Sept. 2, and since then, 43 suspected drug traffickers have been killed and two have survived, officials said. The pace of the strikes has increased from one every few weeks in September to three so far this week.
The operations have mostly targeted vessels linked to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua network. The missions have ranged from attacks on smuggling boats to the destruction of a submersible, with footage of several operations released by Hegseth and Trump on social media.
TRUMP APPROVES MILITARY ACTION AGAINST LATIN AMERICAN CARTELS CLASSIFIED AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS
War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the latest strike Friday morning. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images )
When reporters asked Trump on Thursday whether he would request Congress issue a declaration of war against the cartels, he said that wasn’t the plan.
«I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We’re going to kill them, you know? They’re going to be like, dead,» Trump said during a roundtable at the White House with homeland security officials.
Trump this month declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and said the U.S. was in an «armed conflict» with them.
Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle are questioning Trump’s decision to launch the operations without first consulting lawmakers. Several Democrats are warning that the strikes could breach international law.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has also raised concerns about killing people without due process and the possibility of killing innocent people.
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An infrared image released by the Department of War shows debris and smoke following a nighttime strike on a suspected Tren de Aragua vessel in international waters of the Caribbean Sea. Officials said six alleged narco-terrorists were killed in the operation. (Department of War)
In a recent interview, Paul cited Coast Guard statistics that show a significant percentage of boats boarded for suspicion of drug trafficking are innocent.
The senator has also argued that if the administration plans to engage in a war with Venezuela, as it has targeted boats in recent weeks it claims are transporting drugs for the Venezuela-linked Tren de Aragua gang, it must seek a declaration of war from Congress.
Fox News’ Landon Mion and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
narco terror,military,pete hegseth,donald trump,secretary of defense,world,drugs
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