Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz questioned whether Democrats care more about gun-grabbing than the allegations of racist remarks made by President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
A conservative watchdog group filed a lawsuit for records on David Chipman, Biden’s nominee, allegedly having made a racist remark after candidates passed an assessment to become a special agent in charge of the ATF. He was alleged to have said, “Wow, there were an unusually large number of African American agents that passed the exam this time. They must have been cheating.” (RELATED: ‘They Must Have Been Cheating’: Watchdog Group Sues For Records Relating To Derogatory Comments Biden’s ATF Pick Allegedly Made Against Black Agents)
“Do any Dems care about the complaint filed against Biden ATF nominee David Chipman alleging that he made racist remarks in his job?” Cruz tweeted. “Or is Dems’ desire to be gun grabbers & undermine the Second Amendment the only priority they care about? #Disqualifying.”
Do any Dems care about the complaint filed against Biden ATF nominee David Chipman alleging that he made racist remarks in his job?
Or is Dems’ desire to be gun grabbers & undermine the Second Amendment the only priority they care about?#Disqualifying https://t.co/UCy8BKUH70
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 28, 2021
Chipman told the Texas senator that he received two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints during his time as assistant special agent at the ATF, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported. The nominee told Cruz that the complaints were “resolved” and there was no evidence of “discrimination.”
A former Detroit-based ATF agent told the DCNF that several people witnessed Chipman make the alleged remarks, and that it “spread like wildfire.”
“He made this remark in front of a bunch of witnesses,” the agent said. “It spread like wildfire at the agency. It got tremendous blowback, as it should. Here you have a middle manager saying something like that with absolutely no proof.”
Chipman admitted that he supports a ban on AR-15 firearms and potentially all semi-automatic rifles. Several House Republicans wrote a letter urging the Senate to oppose Chipman’s nomination, referring to him as an “enemy of the Second Amendment.”
