In a heated exchange during a House Appropriations Committee hearing, Connecticut Democrat Rep. Rosa DeLauro repeatedly shouted down Attorney General Pam Bondi as she attempted to explain the Trump administration’s plan to merge the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). DeLauro, visibly agitated, demanded Bondi provide specific numbers regarding potential attrition rates due to proposed budget cuts, refusing to let the attorney general fully articulate the administration’s rationale for the merger.
Bondi, a seasoned prosecutor, calmly defended the restructuring, emphasizing that the merger would increase efficiency in combating gun and drug-related crimes. “First, what we’re doing is ATF is going to be brought over with DEA. Everyone knows, everyone sitting up here, guns and drugs go together. They go together. We’re going to make it more efficient,” Bondi stated. She further stressed that ATF agents would no longer waste resources harassing law-abiding gun owners but would instead focus on real crime. “What I can tell you is not going to be happening is ATF agents will not be knocking on the doors of legal gun owners in the middle of the night asking them about their guns. They are going to be out on the streets… working hand in hand with DEA.”
Yet DeLauro, rather than engaging in constructive debate, resorted to theatrics, accusing Bondi of dodging her question. “Mr. Chairman, I’d like an answer to my question,” DeLauro snapped. “How many ATF law enforcement officers and industry operations investigators do you anticipate will be lost to attrition as a result of the funding reduction you are proposing?” She then launched into a hyperbolic tirade, claiming the merger would “shortchange their resources so neither one will be able to do their job.”
Bondi, maintaining her composure, tried to clarify that the reorganization would better allocate resources, but DeLauro repeatedly interrupted, shouting, “Tell me what the numbers are! I don’t want to hear all of your filibuster about this!” The congresswoman’s outbursts exposed her refusal to acknowledge the administration’s goal: streamlining federal law enforcement to combat the deadly intersection of drug trafficking and illegal firearms.
The liberal media, predictably, will frame this as another example of Trump’s DOJ “undermining law enforcement,” ignoring the fact that the merger is designed to eliminate bureaucratic redundancy and refocus efforts on actual criminals rather than political targeting of gun owners. President Trump’s administration has consistently prioritized effective, no-nonsense law enforcement—something DeLauro and her allies seem determined to obstruct.
Source: SilverCircular
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