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.
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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.
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."
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.
