David Chipman Laments Biden Admin's 'Failure' to Get Him Confirmed at ATF

David Chipman has said the Biden administration's efforts to have him confirmed as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were a "failure."

Chipman gave an interview to The New York Times published on Wednesday and appeared to blame President Joe Biden's administration, as well as the gun lobby, for his failure to be confirmed to lead the agency.

The White House announced on September 9 that it would withdraw Chipman's nomination after significant criticism, particularly from conservatives and gun rights advocates. Chipman has been an outspoken advocate of gun control.

He told the newspaper: "Either this was impossible to win, or the strategy failed."

"This was a failure," Chipman said.

Chipman praised the administration for nominating someone like him in the first place, calling it a "gangster move" but also said he found it "unusual" that he had not spoken to anyone at the White House following his nomination. He also questioned the administration's future plans for gun control.

"In the back of my mind, I always thought that there would be a Plan B, but so far there hasn't been," he said.

Michael Gwin, a Biden spokesperson, told the newspaper the president was "absolutely committed to pushing both legislation and personnel to combat gun violence."

The Biden administration's strategy for confirming Chipman focused on winning votes from Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), a moderate Democrat, and Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats.

It was King's opposition to Chipman that ultimately sank his nomination. Chipman told The New York Times he met King in the senator's office in July and he told Chipman "my friends who are gun dealers in Maine" opposed his confirmation.

King later explained his decision in a letter to his constituents, saying Chipman could not be "a fair and objective regulator" because of his involvement with gun safety groups. The senator said Chipman couldn't be "evenhanded" with gun dealers.

Chipman also said that the failure of his nomination was largely due to opposition from the gun lobby, in particular the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which lobbied King and other senators.

NSSF posted a photo on its website depicting a federal agent standing in the debris of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas in 1993. The agent was wrongly identified as Chipman in a tabloid news article.

Chipman received death threats as a result of the misidentification and placed the blame on Larry Keane, an executive at the NSSF. Keane told The New York Times his group would not have used the image if they knew it was not Chipman and removed it from their site when they found out. He also said called the death threats "extremely unfortunate and uncalled-for."

Chipman claimed that Keane was "trying to get me killed" by posting the photo but Keane said that was "categorically false."

But Chipman also had criticism for the Department of Justice for not sending journalists documents debunking the photo, saying he had to send the documents himself once he concluded: "No-one's defending me."

Newsweek has asked the White House for comment.

UPDATE 09/29/21 10.20am E.T.: This article was updated to include more information.