Ron Wyden....on NRA

[pbmus]

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1177586522880643072.html

NEWS: For more than a year my @SenateFinance staff has been investigating the NRA’s relationship with foreign agent Maria Butina and Russian government official Alexander Torshin and their role in the Kremlin’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

Here’s what they found.
The NRA lied about the December 2015 Moscow trip not being an official trip.

NRA leaders were told the trip was needed to prove Torshin’s American connections to the Kremlin, and that building relationships with Russians was “NRA business.”


While in Moscow, the NRA delegation met with a host of senior level Kremlin officials, including some of Putin’s closest advisors (at least two of whom had been sanctioned by the U.S. government), and multiple Russian oligarchs close to Putin.




The now-convicted Russian agent Maria Butina made clear to the NRA she wanted to bring the “head of the most powerful political organization in America” to Russia.
The incoming NRA president only agreed to participate in the trip after he was offered the opportunity to explore lucrative business deals with Russian weapons manufacturers, on the condition that he bring the NRA to Russia.






He was even offered a meeting with Vladimir Putin.

After returning from Moscow, the NRA gave the Russians free rein over the guest list for its 2016 Annual Meeting. It also provided access to other political organizations in 2015 and 2016 like the National Prayer Breakfast and the secretive right-wing Council for National Policy.




NRA officers’ apparent use of the NRA for personal gain fits a larger pattern of reported self-dealing and raises serious questions about whether the NRA broke U.S. tax laws.
Read more about our investigation and its extensive findings: