White House Withdraws Chipman Nomination

The ATF nominee was controversial for his views on gun control even before reports emerged that he’d made racist comments.

By and
7

The White House on Thursday spiked the nomination of David Chipman to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after it became clear the controversial pick simply lacked the votes to be confirmed in the Senate. 

The administration tapped Chipman back in April, and he immediately inspired a storm of opposition from Republicans for his long history of pushing expansive gun control measures. He also came under scrutiny for allegations, first reported by The Reload, that he made racist remarks toward other ATF workers. Chipman spent 25 years at the ATF before jumping to the gun control advocacy organization Giffords Law Center, founded by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, to become a policy adviser. 

This is the second time Democrats can blame division in their own ranks for the White House pulling a high-profile nomination. In March, the White House withdrew its nomination of Neera Tanden to lead the Office of Management and Budget office over controversial political tweets.

“We knew this wouldn’t be easy — there’s only been one Senate-confirmed A.T.F. director in the bureau’s history — but I have spent my entire career working to combat the scourge of gun violence, and I remain deeply committed to that work,” President Joe Biden said in a statement about the withdrawal. 

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
7
By and
Comments (7)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    I breathed a sigh of relief that his nomination didn’t go through.

    Collapse
  2. Avatar photo
    Frank Lee

    I am sorry, I am not violent and would never follow through with violence for politics (unless in defense of violent against me) but I cannot shake the urge to punch this guy. Chipman is everything that any good American should dislike today.

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    Victor Clairmont

    Not shocked by the spiking honestly.

    Collapse
  4. Raincheck

    Biden needs to lead. On every issue it seems he plays the left side of his base with no plan on how to bring moderates on board. If he wants to govern, he needs both wings of his party following his lead, or he needs Republicans. Appeasing the left is easy, they are they noisy side of the party and it keeps them quiet. But it lead to zero accomplishments. We have divided government. Call up Bill Clinton and get some advice on how to manage it.

    Biden overestimates his own abilities and he doesn’t do follow through. He is a career legislator who has never had to run anything, and it shows.

    Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    Khal Spencer

    Perhaps Biden needs to sit down with those moderate Dems, Sen. King, and the GOP moderates, assuming any are left, and ask them for a recommendation. Someone who is a career BATF guy but who has not been highly pro-gun or anti-gun, just someone who wants the BATF to carry out its mandate under the law and Constitution and give us all confidence that this is not a patronage position.

    Chipman was poison, a payback to the anti-gun Progressives in the Left of the Democratic Party, and anyone with half a brain knew it.

    Hit restart.

    Collapse
  6. Avatar photo
    EricRemcon@gmail

    “The agency has not had a Senate-confirmed head in six years.”

    Filling the head of the ATF is yet another example of a broken government. Wasting likely man-years of time of congressional staff members and committee members time to “not confirm” a supposed important position in the government is a perfect demonstration of lack of accountability and basic functioning of government.

    Our government has always been broken to some extent, but hyper partisanship and lack of serious engagement from the voting public (electing carnival barkers) has started to take a hammer to the already broken pieces.

    Collapse
  7. Acre00

    Thank the Lord and pass the ammunition!

    Collapse