Biden ATF nominee Chipman accused of racial bias for claiming Black ATF agent cheated on exam

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President Biden's embattled Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) nominee is once again under fire, this time from a Black former ATF agent who is accusing David Chipman of racial bias for falsely claiming he cheated on a promotion exam.

The former agent claims that Chipman's determination that he did too well on an in-person assessment test, and subsequent accusation of cheating, stunted his career over a two-year investigative process.

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The agent, who served the agency for over 25 years, told The Reload that Chipman sat on a grading panel, along with former deputy assistant director William McMahon and another assessor, during a test on how to use agency resources to combat rising gun crimes in cities.

The agent said he believes Chipman reported him for cheating because his answers to the promotional exam were "too good." He explained to The Reload that Chipman was not aware of his background in establishing anti-violence programs in U.S. cities, which may have contributed to his above-average grade.

"I believe it had to have been a bias," the agent told The Reload. "My answers were just ‘too good.’ And my thought is he just said, ‘this Black guy could not have answered this well if he wasn’t cheating.'"

The allegation of cheating triggered a two-year long investigation by the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The agent said he was glad the OIG investigation occurred, because it cleared him of any wrongdoing, but it prevented him from entering a management level role.

"I was cleared as I should have been," the agent told The Reload. "But it was very painful because it was two years out of my life where my career was sidelined for something like that. And it caused me a lot of stress and my family a lot of stress. And it kind of disenchanted me with the idea of management."

He said that his former desire to hold a management position "didn’t come to fruition because of Mr. Chipman."

DOJ, which oversees ATF, confirmed in a statement to Fox News that Chipman raised a concern about an agent potentially cheating on an ATF examination in 2007.

"Chipman served as an assessor for many ATF candidates of all backgrounds – and only once, in 2007, raised a concern about potential cheating by an individual to supervisors. Those concerns were considered serious enough that the inspector general decided to investigate them," said a DOJ spokesperson.

"Any allegations of bias against David Chipman are false, and in the two times he was the subject of a workplace complaint over a 25-year career at the ATF, the claims were thoroughly investigated and found to be meritless."

The White House did not respond to Fox News' inquiry regarding whether the White House is still confident in Chipman’s nomination.

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This new accusation of racial bias against Chipman comes after a long line of other controversies being uncovered about the ATF nominee since his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in May.

Fox News exclusively reported that Chipman failed to disclose to the Senate a media appearance on a Chinese state-run media network, China Global Television Network (CGTN), which may have been used as propaganda by the communist state to cover up a mass stabbing of children. 

In addition, another recent report by The Reload corroborated allegations that Chipman made racially insensitive comments about the promotion of Black ATF agents in the past while he led the Detroit field office. 

A group of former ATF agents wrote a letter to the Senate last week calling into serious question Chipman's fitness to serve, after several current and former agents have called him a "bully" and an "activist."

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In light of multiple controversies swirling around the ATF nominee, the 11 GOP senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding Chipman face a second hearing, which Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has previously denied.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., slammed Chipman's nomination during recent remarks on the Senate floor, demanding that the Biden administration should "stop flirting with this profoundly misguided nomination." Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also blasted the "troubling allegations" around Chipman.

"These are troubling allegations and yet, the chairman of this committee has said it's not worth the committee's time to have a hearing and to let Mr. Chipman answer these allegations," Cruz said last week.

Durbin's office did not respond to Fox News' request for comment regarding the new allegation against Chipman and whether or not he would schedule a second hearing for the embattled nominee.