Director Steven Dettelbach of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stonewalled House lawmakers Thursday as they grilled him about an early morning ATF raid in which agents fatally shot Bryan Malinowski, executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Judiciary Committee Republicans criticized Mr. Dettelbach for refusing to answer questions about why ATF agents were not wearing body cameras, as agency policy requires, when the officers on March 19 approached Malinowski’s home in Chenal Valley, Arkansas, and broke down his door to serve a warrant.
The raid sparked a gunfight between the agents and Malinowski, 53, who died from gunshot wounds.
According to an unsealed affidavit, Malinowski was suspected of illegally selling firearms without a federal firearms license.
The warrant alleged that Malinowski sold 150 firearms between May 2021 and February 2024 and that six of those guns were eventually used in crimes.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, asked Mr. Dettelbach, “Why did you put the tape on the doorbell camera? Why did you cut the lights? And why didn’t [the agents] wear the body cams? And what are you trying to hide?”
Mr. Dettelbach responded, “The reason that we called for the investigation is we’re not trying to hide anything. The reason I’m not going to talk about what’s going on in that investigation is to respect its independence.”
“Out of fairness, there’s a reason for the Department of Justice policy that’s existed for so many decades, about not commenting on pending matters,” Mr. Dettelbach said.
Mr. Jordan asked whether Little Rock Police officers who accompanied the ATF agents were wearing body cams, but Mr. Dettelbach responded again that he would not comment on the Malinowski case.
The ATF director said the Department of Justice policy allows for local law enforcement on such operations to follow their own guidelines and policies regarding body-worn cameras.
According to Mr. Jordan, it was the Little Rock Police Department’s policy to wear them, but they were not wearing them during the raid on Malinowski’s residence.
Mr. Jordan pressed Mr. Dettelbach whether he had told the Little Rock Police Department not to have its officers wear body cams that day.
“Again, it is it is simply unfair at this point [to respond] while there’s a pending investigation,” Mr. Dettelbach said.
GOP lawmakers say that Malinowski was fearful of a home intrusion on March 19 and was prepared to defend his family when the ATF raid occurred. He and his wife encountered what they believed to be home intruders, resulting in the exchange of gunfire with ATF agents.
House Judiciary Democrats hit back at Republicans’ criticism of the ATF, citing spending cuts to the department and calls from some GOP lawmakers to “abolish” the agency.
“It’s awfully rich for some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to lecture you…about crime and gun trafficking when they have worked vociferously over the last 17 months to defund the very agency that you lead that is charged with addressing gun trafficking,” Rep. Joe Neguse, Colorado Democrat, told Mr. Dettelbach.
Mr. Neguse asked, “How much did President Biden’s fiscal year ’24 budget request? What was the total?”
Mr. Dettelbach replied, “I believe that the number I’m very familiar with, the amount of the cut [by Congress] was $47.5 million. That was the salary and expenses cut, causing us not to hire agents.”
Mr. Dettelbach said the cut is also causing the ATF to not be out with their “state and local partners arresting carjackers and violent criminals.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.