ATF chief warns that agency cuts could result in dire consequences

Washington — With just days remaining in the Biden administration, not all of the president's appointees are departing quietly. Steven Dettelbach, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is warning that the incoming administration has the agency in its sights.

Dettelbach's agency helped identify Thomas Crooks — the gunman in the July assassination attempt on President-elect Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania — by tracing the assault rifle which Crooks fired. 

"In the assassination attempt on President Trump, ATF identified the shooter in that case in under 30 minutes," Dettelbach said.