NRA convention rocked by leadership struggle

The National Rifle Association’s annual convention this week was rocked by a bitter leadership struggle that has resulted in the departure of the gun advocacy group’s president following allegations of extortion.

The feud, which spilled into the public view on Friday afternoon, hours after President Trump traveled to Indiana to speak to the gathering, threatened to overshadow the group’s annual event and efforts to gin up enthusiasm among supporters. 

{mosads}Reading from a mic on the main stage at the NRA convention in Indianapolis on Saturday morning, the group’s second vice-chairman Richard Childress delivered the news to the convention audience that President Oliver North was leaving. 

North said in his letter he had intended to run for reelection for another year after his year-long tenure expired Monday. 

“Please know I hoped to be with you today as NRA president endorsed for reelection. I’m now informed that that will not happen,” North wrote.

The surprise announcement is certain to shift the media focus away from the convention’s high-profile speakers and rallying efforts toward new uncertainty at the group’s upper echelon. 

The NRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

The departure comes after details were unearthed of a fierce leadership dispute between North, a conservative folk hero known for his work on the National Security Council in the 1980s, and NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, who helped bring the group from its grassroots origins to the advocacy juggernaut it is today.

The group was thrust into 24 hours of chaos after multiple reports emerged that LaPierre sent a letter to the NRA board accusing North of extorting him and pressuring him to resign over alleged financial impropriety. North reportedly shot back in his own letter that he was looking out for the NRA’s best interests and that he was forming a crisis committee to probe internal financial matters.  

The LaPierre-North row is rooted in the NRA’s relationship with relationship with advertising firm Ackerman McQueen Inc., against which the NRA filed a lawsuit earlier this month.

LaPierre is seeking records from Ackerman McQueen, which the NRA says the firm is refusing to provide, to justify its billings. The firm has paid North millions of dollars in recent years as part of a documentary series he hosts, though only three episodes have thus far been produced.

LaPierre uncovered a phone conversation in his letter between North and a senior NRA staffer this week in which North said Ackerman McQueen was readying a letter to the board that would be “bad for me, two other members of my executive team and the Association.” 

LaPierre reportedly wrote that the letter in question “would contain a devastating account of our financial status, sexual harassment charges against a staff member, accusations of wardrobe expenses and excessive staff travel expenses.” He added that after the call “others informed me that I needed to withdraw the NRA lawsuit against [Ackerman McQueen] or be smeared.” 

He said that he was informed that Ackerman McQueen would not send the damaging letter if he resigned.

The 76-member NRA board is expected to address the leadership vacuum when it convenes Monday.

The leadership dispute comes amid wider concerns over the NRA’s finances as New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) probes the group’s tax-exempt status. James sent the NRA a letter Friday instructing it to preserve relevant financial records. Some of the NRA’s affiliated businesses also received subpoenas, according to The New York Times. 

James had long promised to take an aggressive stance regarding the NRA, saying before her election that NRA cast itself “as a charitable organization” but was in fact “a terrorist organization.” She has jurisdiction over the group as it is chartered in the Empire State. 

“The NRA will fully cooperate with any inquiry into its finances,” William Brewer, the NRA’s outside counsel, said in a statement to The Times. “The NRA is prepared for this, and has full confidence in its accounting practices and commitment to good governance.”

James as a multitude of angles at which she can approach her probe, as multiple reports have emerged over questionable money transfers from the NRA’s affiliated charity and transactions benefiting firms with ties to NRA officials. 

While a nonprofit, the NRA has significant financial and political sway in Washington largely buoyed by overwhelming support for the group from the Republican base.