Sen Cory Booker Pushes Back on Where the ATF Is Headed

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Scotta, I'm actually really grateful you're here and really relieved by your nomination. Your years in dedicated service are something I have a lot of respect for and gratitude for. I've met so many ATF agents over the years and have found them to be remarkably committed professional public servants, and the fact that you would lead the agency that has so many means a lot to me. I'm worried, obviously, about the direction of ATF. I have been for years since I was a mayor, and we found out that the overwhelming majority of our gun crimes were done with people who acquired guns illegally. If we were just enforcing the laws, we could have driven down violence. As much as I advocate for other gun safety laws, the ones we have right now, should the ATF be given the resources and manpower to enforce the law, we could save a lot of lives in our country. Unfortunately, since the president's inauguration a year ago, the ATF has really been under further attacks from the gun industry and high-ranking administration officials. Trump proposed gutting the ATF's budget by $400 million, already starved as an agency. The administration has diverted thousands of ATF agents away from investigating illegal firearm trafficking, bombing, tax evasion, and tracing guns from violent crimes to their perpetrators to instead do immigration enforcement. This has primarily resulted in the rounding up of non-violent immigrants and not getting weapons out of the hands of people that are doing horrible things with them. The administration even suggested eliminating the ATF altogether, which is stunning to me to hear this administration wanting to defund the police that do some of the most important work for keeping us safe. I have a few questions about the direction of the agency. I just want to emphasize, again, my gratitude that you're up for this position, but the importance of you maintaining your independence and not giving the gun industry or others who want to defund you any sway over the decisions you make. I just want to say for the record, if you can just state, do you think abolishing or defunding ATF would risk public safety? Good morning, Senator. Thank you for your comments. I think ATF plays a pivotal role in America's communities on reducing violent crime. Although I can't control the budgets, I think there would be a negative impact on America's communities. Thank you very much. A simple yes would have sufficed, but I appreciate that. This legislation is obviously misguided. I hope that you will take steps to ensure that the ATF is fully staffed, fully resourced, able to get its mission to protect the public from violent crime. Since 07, when I first met with the acting head of the ATF, they just told me the blunt truth about how much more they could do with more officers. I hope that you'll advocate for that. The diversion of agents to conduct immigration enforcement. We know that Trump authorized ATF agents to conduct arrests of immigrants without permanent legal status. By September, about 80% of the ATF's roughly 2,500 agents had been assigned to the immigration task force at some point. How many ATF agents are currently assigned to the Department of Homeland Security to conduct immigration enforcement? Sir, ATF has never had more than about 75 to 100 agents on a day working on immigration enforcement in support of ICE and HSI. So you said about 100 currently at any time? No more than 100 at any given time. Have the diversions impacted ATF's capacity to enforce our national firearms laws? Not from our perspective. ATF in those operations has been focused on offenders that were illegally armed with firearms. MS-13, 18th Street, illegally instead of- No, again, I'm well aware and frankly grateful for the work that you do. It's just hard for me to believe that 100 plus agents taken out of that important work going to arrest people with no criminal records is not taking you away from your work. More agents doing that work, I find, would probably help keep us much safer from the violent crime that is most concerning to the American public. I'd like to enter into the record an article from The Trace, which quotes David Hamilton, a former senior special agent who retired in 2021. He said, and I quote, it is hugely disruptive. You work on a complex federal investigation for years in the making, which includes covert gun buys and intercepts and wiretaps. Now they're being told you can't work at all on that investigation for an indefinite period of time. Most of those leads are going to die on the vine. That's a former agent that has a lot of experience that counters this testimony that taking that many agents away doesn't undermine your mission. I want to ask one last question. Previous administration- Without objection, the document's made a part of the record. I'm so grateful for you, sir. You're welcome. I'm grateful for you. I'd be more grateful if you begin to wrap up, my good friend. I will wrap up with this last question. You with a gavel is a terrifying thing, so I'm going to remove myself as quickly as possible. I've got the gavel now. Please don't throw it at me, sir. I know your arm's pretty good. I wouldn't do that. Okay. The last question, then I'm done. Previous administrations have released data about dealer inspections and trafficking investigations initiated by ATF at regular intervals. None of that data has been released during the past year of this administration. Is that something you're willing to do under your leadership? How many dealer inspections has the ATF conducted since January 2025? Briefly, sir. Yes, sir. I don't have the number of inspections that we've conducted with me, but we can provide you with that answer after the hearing. We've continued to do dealer inspections uninhibited. I would like to put on the record I have no clue who Mr. Hamilton is, and I've been here for 21 years almost, and I go back to 1994 when I was a task force officer working with ATF, so almost 32 years. We are working Title III RICO gang cases. I challenge his statement as to the work that ATF is doing. We do have about 100 people working on immigration enforcement, but we are not impacting violent crime in a negative way as a result of that work that we're doing with Title VIII.