House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is now actively investigating the circumstances of a deadly federal law enforcement raid on the home of Little Rock, Arkansas, airport director Bryan Malinowski on March 19.
Agents with the ATF’s Little Rock field office had suspected Mr. Malinowski—executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport—of selling firearms without a license and without conducting background checks. The ATF had obtained a warrant to search his home and arrived at the man’s home at around 6 a.m. on March 19, wearing full tactical gear.
The exact sequence of events after the federal agents entered Mr. Malinowski’s home remains unclear, but there was an exchange of gunfire and he was struck at least once in the head. He died of his wounds two days later.
On Monday, Mr. Jordan wrote to ATF Director Steven Dettelbach demanding his agency turn over records relating to the deadly raid.
“The circumstances of Mr. Malinowski’s death raise questions about whether the ATF followed proper protocol during the execution of this search warrant,” Mr. Jordan’s letter states.
Mr. Jordan noted recent revelations that ATF agents covered up a doorbell security camera before they entered Mr. Malinowski’s home, and were not using body cameras to document their actions during the raid.
A June 2021 DOJ memorandum orders federal law enforcement agencies, including the ATF, to submit policy proposals for requiring agents to wear and activate such body cameras to record their actions during pre-planned arrest operations and when executing searches and seizures. A May 25, 2022, executive order by President Joe Biden called on federal law enforcement agencies to identify the resources needed to begin implementing such body camera policies at the agency level.
Mr. Jordan said the March 19 ATF raid may have also run afoul of a DOJ policy, announced by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in September 2021, requiring federal agents to limit their use of so-called “no knock” entry tactics. Her policy memorandum states “no knock” entries may only be used when a requesting agency believes there is a threat of violence, and an agent must first get supervisory approval from both a federal prosecutor as well as the agent’s law enforcement component before using “no knock” entry tactics.
It’s unclear whether the ATF agencies followed the normal “knock and announce” procedures or whether they forced their way into Mr. Malinowski’s home with “no knock” tactics.
The Malinowski family contends there’s no evidence suggesting ATF agents identified themselves before they entered the home. The family further contends Bryan Malinowski and his wife, Maer, believed intruders were breaking into their home on the morning of March 19, and that he loaded a handgun as he went to inspect the commotion.
Bud Cummins, an attorney representing the Malinowski family, has argued that the decision by ATF agents to cover over the doorbell camera also appears counterproductive if their intent was to announce themselves before the raid.
“ATF has not explained why it resorted to a no knock entry of Mr. Malinowski’s home when it could have peacefully executed the warrant while he was away from his residence,” Mr. Jordan’s letter to the ATF director states.
Mr. Jordan called on Mr. Dettelbach, the ATF director, to turn over all documents relating to the planning and execution of the search warrant on Mr. Malinowski’s home on March 19. This request includes any audio recordings that may have been captured during the raid, in the absence of body camera footage.
Furthermore, Mr. Jordan called for the ATF to account for its lack of body camera footage from the raid. He also asked the agency to disclose the number of “no knock” entries they had conducted since Ms. Monaco posted her September 2021 memorandum on such practices.
Mr. Jordan asked the ATF director to provide the responsive records by May 6.
NTD News reached out to the ATF and the DOJ for comment about the March 19 raid.
“As is standard practice, this matter is under review by state authorities in Arkansas,” an ATF spokesperson said Monday. “The Department of Justice does not comment on pending matters.”
The DOJ did not respond to this request for comment.