From Dec, 2016: How Sheriff Clarke bridges DT's gun nuts and Putin's Kleptocrats

[pnwmom]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/how-david-clarke-bridges-donald-trumps-gun-nuts-and-vladimir-putins-kleptocrats

But Clarke is also at the nexus of a relationship between Donald Trump and two of the well-known members of his mutually reinforcing support group this past election, the cronyistic kleptocracy of Russia’s Vladimir Putin and the extremist paranoiacs of the National Rifle Association.

SNIP

Clarke has served as a virtual Bering Land Bridge between the NRA and its counterpart in Russia, The Right to Bear Arms, taking a trip to the country almost exactly a year ago with a who’s who of NRA brass. Present on this bizarre excursion were ex-NRA President David Keene, NRA First Vice President Pete Brownell—who also just happens to run an enormous firearm accessory empire—and NRA Women’s Leadership Forum executive committee member Hilary Goldschlager.

SNIP

Brownell, the NRA “Ring of Freedom” and The Right To Bear Arms paid for Clarke’s trip. When queried by the press, his office claimed it was a personal trip and they didn’t wish comment. Yet he filled out a Milwaukee County ethics disclosure form, which is unnecessary for trips of a personal nature (i.e. vacations).

While in Russia, the group attended a conference put on by their domestic host. At the event, a speech was given by honorary The Right To Bear Arms member, Alexander Torshin, a former Russian Senator, NRA Life Member and close Putin ally, who was appointed deputy governor for Russia’s central bank by the Russian leader himself. At the most recent NRA Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, in May of this year, Sheriff Clarke tweeted a picture of himself with Donald Trump Jr., who was sitting at special guest Torshin’s table.