Inside the NRA's finances

[struggle4progress]

By Carol D. Leonnig , Katie Zezima and Tom Hamburger
June 14

The National Rifle Association spent growing sums on overhead in 2018 even as it cut money for core activities such as gun training and political efforts, ending the year deeper in debt, new financial documents show.

The gun rights group’s 2018 financial report, which was obtained by The Washington Post, portrays the longtime political powerhouse as spending faster than its revenue rose.

The records show that the NRA froze its pension plan for employees at the end of last year, a move that saved it close to $13 million, and obtained a $28 million line of credit by borrowing against its Virginia headquarters ...

The New York attorney general is investigating the NRA’s tax-exempt status amid recent revelations of lavish spending by chief executive Wayne LaPierre and top vendors. Among the expenditures were nearly $275,000 in personal charges at a Beverly Hills men’s store and more than $253,000 in luxury travel to locations such as Italy, Budapest and the Bahamas ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-nras-finances-deepening-debt-increased-spending-on-legal-fees--and-cuts-to-gun-training/2019/06/14/ac9dc488-8e30-11e9-b08e-cfd89bd36d4e_story.html?utm_term=.ba7d29cf292f

[underpants]

1. Thanks I saw this earlier and meant to read it

I think a 5 year membership is $75 (and you get a hat and a gym bag)

And then there's the RIIIIING OF FFREEEEDOM!!
https://www.nraringoffreedom.com/membership/membership-levels/
$1,000,000 and you get jacket and invites to parties.

My relatives are avid hunters but neither belongs to the NRA. My brother in law is rightwing but as he says "they've gone into crazy world"

[struggle4progress]

2. Blackburn defends flow of Russian money

SOPHIA TESFAYE
JUNE 14, 2019 11:00AM (UTC)

At least a dozen Republican congressional campaigns used materials stolen from Democrats by Russian hackers during the 2016 election. Several other Republican campaigns received millions in contributions from an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2018, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called on the National Republican Congressional Committee to make a bipartisan pledge not to utilize stolen or hacked information in House elections. After months of negotiations, in September of 2018, House Republicans backed out and refused to sign the pledge. These are just some of the often-overlooked reasons why Republicans have been so reluctant to criticize President Trump’s willingness to accept “dirt” on an opposing candidate from a foreign government ...

Warner’s request for unanimous consent to pass a bill that would make it illegal not to report an offer of foreign help was blocked by Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, a Republican elected last year ...

Blackburn, in particular, has close ties to a U.S.-sanctioned Russian politician who has recently come under intense scrutiny. Her former lawyer, G. Kline Preston IV, who represented Blackburn when she was facing allegations of possible campaign finance violations, also worked closely with Alexander Torshin, the prominent Russian politician with close ties to Putin who is now under intense scrutiny for allegations he illegally channeled Russian funds through the National Rifle Association in an effort to influence the 2016 election. According to the Washington Post, Blackburn has received the most NRA money since 2002 of any Tennessee member of Congress. (She was in the House before her election to the Senate in 2018.)

Blackburn’s objection is emblematic of how deep the rot runs in the Republican party, and also of the hold that Russian money has over its elected officials.

https://www.salon.com/2019/06/14/sen-marsha-blackburn-takes-one-for-trump-defends-flow-of-russian-money/

[VarryOn]

3. When Democrats get control of the IRS again...

They need to give the NRA a thorough audit! No telling what they'd find.