Former ATF Employee Alleges Biden Officials Harassed, Threatened Him For Exposing Abuses

A former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives employee alleges the agency threatened him with physical harm and Biden ATF Director Steven Dettelbach “personally gave orders to find a legal justification to fire” him over his complaints that unqualified agents were being hired.  

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee announced in a statement Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is “demanding the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) end all retaliation against Afolabi Siwajuola, a whistleblower who reported the Biden administration’s ATF for its illegal misclassification scheme and improper hiring practices.”

“Mr. Siwajuola told my office that as a U.S. Army veteran, his experience working at the ATF after becoming a whistleblower during the Biden administration is on the same level, and some days worse than his experience serving in Baghdad, Iraq. Mr. Siwajuola told my staff that when serving in Iraq he could trust that his Army squadmates and leadership would have his back, but Biden ATF leadership had instead ‘put a target’ on his,” Grassley wrote in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and ATF Acting Director Daniel Driscoll.

The New York Post reports Siwajuola claims he faced “threats of harm” and the Judiciary Committee reports “Siwajuola disclosed he has suffered half a decade of severe retaliation after reporting the Biden ATF for:”

* Illegally misclassifying human resources and admin positions as law enforcement;

* Lowering the qualifying standards for ATF special agent and industry operations investigator applicants to meet the demands of a hiring surge; and

* Pressuring ATF employees to approve certain applicants who failed to meet basic qualification requirements for special agent and industry operations investigator positions, especially applicants with relationships with past or current ATF employees.

The Post also reports Siwajuola also alleges he was racially harassed by ATF officials.

“Mr. Siwajuola informed my staff that the investigator asked him where he was from, in which Mr. Siwajuola responded ‘North Carolina’ but the investigator continued asking Mr. Siwajuola where he was really from as if he wasn’t truly from the U.S. due to his name,” Grassley wrote. “Mr. Siwajuola also alleged the ATF IAD investigator asked whether he supports abolishing the ATF or believes that the ATF should be dismantled.”

“Despite the Biden administration’s persistent retaliation against Siwajuola, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) presented him with the 2023 Public Servant Award, highlighting his work to bring ‘light to ATF’s longstanding (and illegal) practice of deliberately misclassifying upper-level law enforcement positions.’ In August 2025, OSC also recommended ATF provide Siwajuola a monetary award for his whistleblower disclosures,” the Committee reports.

“Grassley is calling on the Trump DOJ and ATF to immediately halt all retaliation against Siwajuola, fully and fairly investigate Siwajuola’s whistleblower retaliation allegations, hold the bureaucrats who retaliated against Siwajuola accountable and follow OSC’s recommendation to reward Siwajuola for saving millions of taxpayer dollars,” the Committee adds.

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