President Donald Trump is expected to call the director of the FBI Kash Patel as interim chief of the Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, sources familiar with the matter to ABC News said.
An official of the Department of Justice told ABC News that Patel is expected to have sworn as an interim director at the beginning of next week.
The director of the director of the FBI, Kash Patel, gestures while walking on the stage to speak during the inaugural parade within the capital of the capital, in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025.
Angela Weiss/AFP through Getty Images, Archive
The White House did not respond to a request for comments.
The measure occurs after Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the general advisor of the ATF, Pamela Hicks, at the end of last week. Bondi said in an interview with Fox News on Friday that it was because the agency’s main lawyer was “pointing to arms owners.”
Kash Patel is sworn as director of the FBI by Attorney General Pam Bondi in the Indian Treaty Chamber in the Eisenhower Executive Office building on the White House Campus in Washington, on February 21, 2025.
Pedro Ugarte/AFP through Getty Images
ABC News contacted Hicks to comment.
Patel swore as director of the FBI last week despite several controversies around his nomination. He has been a vocal critic of the FBI for years and previously said he wanted to clean the office of the office in Washington claiming corruption and bias.
Patel, who has never been an FBI or ATF agent, has supported the uproar of January 6, attended demonstrations with Trump and appeared with several conservative figures, including those who have pressed the Conspirations of Qanon.
All Senate Democrats and the sensible Republican Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted against Patel quoting their lack of political objectivity.
The ATF, which has the task of regulating sales and records of firearms in the United States, has long been an objective of Republicans about what they argue that is the government’s invasion in the rights of the second amendment.
The attorney general Pam Bondi walks towards the west wing of the White House, on February 21, 2025, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP
Earlier this month, Trump issued an executive order that told Bondi to review the actions to address the right to maintain and carry weapons and present a plan to the White House after 30 days.
In one of his first signed notes after confirmation, Bondi instructed the ATF to remove the resources from their weapons for alcohol and tobacco to help in the efforts of the Department of Justice to combat illegal immigration and transnational criminal groups.
