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The National Rifle Association was a “foreign asset” for Russia during the 2016 election, an 18-month investigation by Senate Finance Committee Democrats finds. The NRA enthusiastically sought to help Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin insinuate themselves into right-wing circles on behalf of Russia, and NRA officials absolutely knew that Butina and Torshin were linked to the Russian government, not just independent Russian gun-lovers—literally Butina emailed NRA officials that the 2015 Moscow visit by some NRA leaders was important because “many powerful figures in the Kremlin are counting on Torshin to prove his American connections.”
The report finds that when Butina asked which U.S. politicians she would be able to meet at NRA events, NRA staff quickly handed over a list, and “NRA resources appear to have been used to pay for membership and registration fees to third party events for [Torshin and Butina] as well as to arrange for transit to and lodging for many of those events throughout 2015 and 2016.”
But Butina and Torshin weren’t the only ones traveling on the NRA’s dime. In 2018 the NRA denied that the Moscow trip had been an official NRA outing, but the NRA president at the time used NRA letterhead to write to Torshin that “Dave Keene and [top NRA donor] Joe Gregory will represent the NRA and our five million members better than anyone else.” NRA staff made arrangements for the trip. Then-NRA Vice President Pete Brownell thought it was an official NRA event, and in June 2016 the NRA reimbursed him for $21,000 in travel expenses. So those denials that the NRA intentionally sent its leaders to Moscow to firm up its Russian connections are looking awfully thin.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon called for the IRS to investigate further, saying that “The totality of evidence uncovered during my investigation, as well as the mounting evidence of rampant self-dealing, indicate the NRA may have violated tax laws.” Tax laws, of course, aren't the only problem here, but as we’re always reminded, they got Capone on tax evasion.
