It's a good day for Keith Olbermann to apologize to Stephen Gutowski for accusing him of 'fabricating' story that took down ATF nominee David Chipman

Sarah D | 2:22 PM on October 01, 2021

David Chipman’s ATF nomination was effectively shot down by one man: The Reload’s Stephen Gutowski.

There were exactly two stories with any new information about David Chipman's background after his confirmation hearing in May. Both of them were Reload exclusives that garnered significant reaction on Capitol Hill. https://t.co/ihDSb0etde

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) September 9, 2021

Keith Olbermann was pretty pissed off about that at the time:

Congrats on fabricating a story. Enjoy presiding over your Gun Death Cult.

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) September 9, 2021

What part is fabricated? Please be specific.

— Nathan Wurtzel (@NathanWurtzel) September 9, 2021

Keith couldn’t answer that question last month, and he most definitely can’t answer it today:

Failed Biden ATF Nominee Confirms He Accused Black Agent of Overperforming on Test, Denies Race Played a Role https://t.co/smToUOtFJ3

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) October 1, 2021

Chipman has now confirmed he did accuse a black ATF agent of cheating on a promotion assessment based on his judgment the agent did too well. He denied race played a role. But the agent isn't buying it. https://t.co/smToUOtFJ3

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) October 1, 2021

All the key points of my reporting have now been confirmed. The facts of what happened are not disputed. The only dispute is over whether Chipman acted out of racial animus. https://t.co/smToUOtFJ3

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) October 1, 2021

David Chipman, whose nomination was pulled a few weeks after news of the allegations were first reported by The Reload, confirmed he did accuse a black agent of cheating on a promotion assessment. He further confirmed the allegation was based on his judgment the agent had performed too well on the section of the assessment he oversaw. His comments confirm two parts of the black agent’s story which have not previously been corroborated.

…

Chipman’s description of the investigation matches those initially shared by the black agent, as well as comments he allegedly made that prompted an agent to file an Equal Employment Opportunity Complaint (EEOC) against him while he served in the agency’s Detroit office. A current and former ATF agent corroborated the existence of the racial complaint against Chipman in July. They said they had heard about the story contained in the complaint before news of its existence was uncovered during a FOIA suit filed by the American Accountability Foundation.

“He made some comments that he was surprised by the number of African Americans who have made it onto a specific promotional list,” a current ATF official told The Reload in July. “So, his insinuation was that they had to have cheated. Which is kind of despicable.”

Uh-oh, Keith.

pic.twitter.com/o22j7jdwMF

— Matt Wickstrom (@wildcatfarm93) October 1, 2021

Think @KeithOlbermann owes this man an apology. #2A https://t.co/fVWgCD6gRJ

— Charlie Monsanto (@ChuckMonsanto) October 1, 2021

We think the same thing. We don’t think Gutowski will get it, but hopefully he can take enough comfort in knowing that, once again, Keith Olbermann was wrong.