Second-Ranking ATF Official Is Forced Out In Agency Shakeup

The Trump administration told the second-ranking official at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives this week to retire or be fired. Marvin Richardson — the ATF’s deputy director — had been serving as the agency’s de facto head during the Trump administration, running the day-to-day operations because the acting director was largely absent. Richardson had worked at the agency for more than 35 years before he opted to retire this week. Richardson was forced out the same week that the Trump administration replaced ATF's acting director, Kash Patel, with a new acting director, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. The leadership shake-up adds to the uncertainty of ATF’s future, with some Republicans calling for the agency to be weakened or abolished and President Trump saying little about his intentions, says the Washington Post. ATF works with local law enforcement to solve gun crimes and is responsible for regulating the sale and licensing of firearms based on laws passed by Congress. Republicans have long viewed ATF, which is part of the Justice Department, as a political entity, saying it aims to regulate guns beyond what the Second Amendment allows. Democrats and many law enforcement officials view the agency as a critical tool in combating violent crime.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has proposed merging ATF with the Drug Enforcement Administration. Trump had said that Patel, the FBI director, would at least temporarily lead ATF — a surprise announcement that put Patel atop two major law enforcement agencies with distinct mandates. Driscoll is also expected to lead both the Army and ATF. When Justice Department officials told ATF staff Wednesday that Driscoll would be their new leader, they confused agency officials by saying that Patel had been the acting director for just a few days and had not actually been the leader of ATF for at least six weeks. That assertion from Justice Department officials conflicted with numerous government news releases and statements to journalists in recent days and weeks that named Patel as the acting director of ATF. “Director Kash Patel was briefly designated ATF Director while awaiting Senate confirmations — a standard, short-term move,” White House spokesman Harrison Fields said. “Dozens of similar re-designations have occurred across the federal government. Director Patel is now excelling in his role at the FBI and delivering outstanding results.”

Richardson began his career at ATF in 1989 as an agent in Dallas. He was at ATF’s failed raid of a heavily armed religious sect outside Waco, Texas, in 1993 that left four agents dead.