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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDid Butina Cause a Leadership Shake-up at the NRA?
DAVID CORN
AUG. 3, 2018 7:54 AM
On May 7, the National Rifle Association released a curious press release declaring that Oliver North, the key player in the Iran-contra scandal and an NRA board member, was poised to become the groups president. Earlier that day, Peter Brownell, then finishing his first term as NRA president, had announced that he would not seek a second annual term in order to devote more time to his family business, a firearms retail company.
This changing of the guardand how it happenedwas odd. For fifteen years, the NRA leadership had followed a specific pattern: an officer was elected by the board to serve two consecutive annual terms as second vice president, then two as first vice president, and, finally, two as president. But the Brownell-to-North transition broke this orderly process. North at the time was serving in neither vice president position. And his ascension was a surpriseeven to North. The day of the move, North told NRATV, I didnt expect this to be happening
This was very sudden ...
... Brownell was the first NRA president in a decade and a half not to seek a second term, and the first vice president, Richard Childress, was passed over. Childress claimed that because of his own commitments he could not even serve as interim president. That job went to the second vice president, Carolyn Meadows. The NRA had been known as an outfit with a strict hierarchy. But now all that was being thrown aside ...
... on April 25two weeks before this seemingly hasty NRA leadership makeoverFBI agents in tactical gear raided the apartment of Maria Butina, a 29-year-old Russian who three months later would be charged by federal prosecutors for allegedly serving as a secret agent for the Russian government in the United States. For years, Butina and her mentor, Alexander Torshin, a Russian official tied to Vladimir Putin, had hooked up with the NRA and other conservative groups, allegedly as part of what the Justice Department called a covert influence operation. Butina, who ran a gun rights group in Russia, and Torshin, who has been accused of money laundering (a charge he denies), had attended NRA events and other right-wing get-togethers, and during the 2016 campaign used their NRA contacts to try to arrange a meeting between Putin and Donald Trump. (It didnt happen.) During this operation, according to prosecutors, Butina relied upon the assistance of conservative consultant Paul Erickson, her romantic partner and an active NRA member ...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/08/did-alleged-russian-spy-maria-butina-cause-a-leadership-shake-up-at-the-nra-1/
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)countries. In fact, Johnny Bolton had headed up that initiative for the white wing NRA until trump called him to White House.
Someone probably realized if you want to traffic guns to foreign countries, long-time NRA board member North has a lot of experience at running guns.
The young Russian spy aspect is interesting. I dont find her particularly attractive, but I bet all those white wing gun-humpers were smitten by her attention and gun love.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)Anything could happen. Have a sense we will be hearing of her for awhile.
sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)malaise
(269,054 posts)David Corn is great
Rec
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)shit just backs up all over the stinking place.