FBI director Kash Patel circulated a memo Monday telling ATF’s workforce a CNN report on plans to cut “as many as 1,000 ATF agents” is “entirely false.”
Breitbart News noted CNN claimed the ATF agents would be moved to FBI positions.
The Daily Mail published a memo in which Patel countered CNN’s report, saying, in part:
This weekend, CNN reported news of a plan on the part of our leadership to “cut as many as one third” of ATF agents and reallocate the agents over to the FBI. The report even suggested our leadership team altered course after reading a news report, and ultimately backed off certain aspects of the changes. This “report” is entirely false.
Patel added:
The FAKE NEWS will never be responsible for operational command authority over the ATF, we are. The brave men and women of the ATF who courageously dedicate themselves to protecting the American public will not have their security jeopardized by the media’s disinformation campaigns. When we make decisions they will be final, regardless of the input of CNN or any other news organization.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly:
