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Exclusive: NRA gathers documents amid scrutiny over ties to Kremlin-linked banker

 By Sara Murray, CNN
Updated 6:06 PM ET, Fri April 27, 2018 
link
 
Washington (CNN)The National Rifle Association is setting aside years of documents related to its interactions with a Kremlin-linked banker, as the gun-rights group appears to be bracing for a possible investigation, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The NRA has faced fresh scrutiny from congressional investigators about its finances and ties to Alexander Torshin, one of the 17 prominent Russian government officials the US Treasury Department recently slapped with sanctions.

The gun-rights group has said it is reexamining its relationship with Torshin, who is a lifetime NRA member, in the wake of the sanctions.

The renewed attention has highlighted the close-knit if sometimes uneasy alliance between top NRA officials and Torshin -- a relationship that ensnared members of Trump's team during the presidential campaign, inviting further congressional scrutiny.

Those inquiries could shed light on the tightly held fundraising practices and political activities of the NRA. The political powerhouse shelled out more than $30 million in 2016 to back Donald Trump's candidacy -- more than it spent on 2008 and 2012 political races combined, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Vice President Mike Pence is slated to speak at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Dallas next Friday, an official told CNN.

The NRA recently found itself facing allegations that the FBI was investigating whether Torshin illegally funneled money through the group to bolster Trump, according to a McClatchy report. The NRA has publicly denied any contact from the FBI and insisted it hasn't accepted illegal donations.

Despite the public denials, officials at the gun-rights group have been anxiously preparing as if they were already under investigation, sources said. Some employees have been tasked with preserving years of documents mentioning Torshin or his associate, Maria Butina, who runs a pro-guns group in Russia, a source familiar with the situation said. Privately, some officials have expressed anxiety about a potential investigation and the group's Russian ties.

The NRA's precautions could be little more than due diligence as the group faces inquiries from congressional investigators and the media about its relationship with Torshin. But the feeling among some officials internally is that the group appears to be readying for an investigation.

"True believers to the cause are getting very antsy," said a person privy to the NRA's internal deliberations. "They were definitely preparing, they were bracing themselves."
The NRA declined to comment.

NRA inroads

Torshin, the deputy head of Russia's central bank who served for years as a senator in the Russian parliament, began making inroads into the NRA with the help of Tennessee lawyer G. Kline Preston. Preston, who said he has known Torshin for about a decade, said the Russian wanted to meet the leadership of the NRA, so Preston cold-called then-NRA President David Keene. In other media interviews, Preston said that call took place around 2011.

"I can certainly say without any reservation that Torshin's intent was purely about helping with the expansion of gun rights," Preston said. "Infiltrating to influence the NRA politically is a red herring."

But even some within the NRA viewed the partnership warily.
When Donald Trump Jr. arrived for a dinner on the sidelines of the NRA's 2016 annual meeting in Louisville, some attendees -- including NRA officials -- were startled to discover Torshin and Butina already present at the restaurant where the reception was being held, according to sources familiar with the event. Torshin and Butina weren't invited to the dinner, but they were asked to stay and speak anyway.

"Donald J. Trump Jr. was attending an NRA convention and having dinner when an acquaintance asked him to say hello to Torshin and made an introduction," said Alan Futerfas, an attorney for Trump Jr. "They made small talk for a few minutes and went back to their separate meals. That is the extent of their communication or contact."

The seemingly impromptu encounter left some officials at the gun-rights group wondering whether it was a setup by the Russians, sources said.

Throughout the campaign, a number of people made overtures to Trump campaign aides on Torshin's behalf. Those emissaries sometimes touted their NRA connections as they aimed to helped Torshin quietly facilitate a relationship between then-presidential candidate Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In one such email, a conservative activist reached out on Torshin's behalf to say his goal was "cultivating a back-channel to President Putin's Kremlin."

The activist added, "Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump," according to the House Intelligence Committee reports.

The outreach efforts reached Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, campaign manager Paul Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates, then-campaign adviser Rick Dearborn and Jeff Sessions, then a foreign policy adviser and now the attorney general, according to emails reviewed by the House Intelligence Committee.
In at least some of the cases their overtures were rebuffed. Torshin was unable to schedule a meeting with candidate Trump at the 2016 NRA meeting, but ultimately managed to meet Trump Jr.

Trump Jr. told congressional investigators he didn't speak to Torshin about the upcoming presidential election, according to the House Intelligence Committee's Russia report.

In an interview with Bloomberg News nearly a year after the event, Torshin touted his dinner with Trump Jr. at the NRA meeting and claimed he had known Trump for nearly five years.
It's unclear whether the outreach to Trump aides attracted the attention of special counsel Robert Mueller. But he and his team have been delving into the possibility that Russians may have injected foreign money into the 2016 race to influence the election.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Trump campaign declined to comment.
Worries about a Russian influence operation
The skepticism among some NRA officials about the pair of gun-loving Russians may have been well-founded.

Torshin's years-long involvement with the NRA had all the hallmarks of a Russian influence operation, Russia experts said. Russian operatives often look to build relationships with polarizing groups -- on either end of the political spectrum -- to breed division and advance the Russian agenda.
"We could give them the benefit of the doubt and say this is just a natural interest and affinity; this guy Torshin and this woman Butina are just gun aficionados," said Alina Polyakova, a Russia expert and foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution.

But given Torshin's stature -- a former Russian senator and now a deputy head at the Russian central bank -- that is exceedingly unlikely, experts said.

"To me this seems like part and parcel of an influence operation," Polyakova said.

Torshin did not respond to requests for comment.

Prolific on Twitter, he has tweeted that the report of an FBI investigation was little more than a rumor. Preston, the Tennessee lawyer, said Torshin was similarly dismissive of those reports when the two men saw one another on Preston's recent trip to Moscow.

"A lot of it, I think, he sees as comical," Preston said of Torshin's reaction. "It's absurd."

If some NRA officials were surprised to encounter Butina and Torshin awaiting Trump Jr. at that private event in 2016, one prominent NRA official was not: David Keene.

Keene, now an NRA board member, said there was a small birthday dinner for him that evening, which Torshin and Butina attended. It happened to take place at the same restaurant as the NRA gathering, he said, and someone brought Trump Jr. by to say hello.
Keene played a central role in fostering the relationship between Torshin and the NRA.

In 2015, Keene brought a delegation of NRA backers to Moscow for a flurry of events with Torshin and Butina, who had founded her own version of the NRA -- Right to Bear Arms -- in Moscow.

The group went sightseeing, toured a Russian gun manufacturer and met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin -- one of the first Russians the Obama administration slapped with sanctions after Russia annexed Crimea. One of the members of the tour group, former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke, rose to become a prominent Trump surrogate during the campaign. In an ethics filing, he disclosed that the Russian Right to Bear Arms group shelled out $6,000 for his meals, lodging and excursions on the trip.

Butina shared a photo of the group of Facebook, which described the excursion as an official visit from an NRA delegation.

That's exactly what the NRA's leadership was hoping to avoid.
Ahead of the trip, top NRA officials had expressed concern that the Moscow visit could invite political backlash, according to sources familiar with their thinking. They pulled the NRA president at the time from the trip, which he was slated to attend, and encouraged Keene to treat it as an independent excursion.

Keene declined to comment on the Moscow trip.

In a recent letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who is examining the NRA's finances, the NRA once again downplayed its association with the 2015 Moscow junket. It insisted one of the attendees -- a top NRA donor -- traveled to Russia "in his personal capacity," rather than as a representative of the organization. The GOP-controlled committees have shown little interest in investigating the NRA, but some Democrats are clamoring for additional information.

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee "refused to investigate whether Russian-linked intermediaries used the NRA to illegally funnel money to the Trump Campaign, to open lines of communication with or approaches to Trump or his associates, and how those approaches may have informed," Russian interference in the 2016 election, Democrats on the committee wrote in their rebuttal to their GOP colleagues' assessment that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia experts said the Russian gun-rights group appears to mainly be a facade to build ties with the NRA. It has little influence in Russia, which has strict gun laws and little public support for loosening them.

"It doesn't exist really in Russia," Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and an expert on economic policy in countries including Russia, said of the group. "This is the old Soviet fashion of operating through front organizations. The purpose is to infiltrate the NRA and, probably, also transfer money."

By 2016, both Torshin and Butina had become fixtures at the NRA's high-dollar donor events, according to attendees.

The pair has popped up at the Golden Ring of Freedom Dinner, an exclusive event for donors who have given $1 million or more, and hospitality suites for lifetime members. Butina has also attended the women's luncheon hosted by the wife of Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president. Tickets start at $250 a head, according to sources familiar with the event.
Sometimes the Russians attended as guests of other members or alongside corporate sponsors.

As for Keene, he said he was not aware of any donations to the NRA from either Torshin or Butina. He said he has not been contacted by the FBI.

The NRA has said that Torshin paid membership dues but said he has not made any additional contributions.

The NRA has also acknowledged that it accepts donations from foreign donors and entities, which it is legally allowed to do. The group would only run afoul of US law if it used foreign donations for certain election-related purposes. In the letter to Wyden, the NRA said it found "no foreign donations in connection with a United States election, either directly or through a conduit."

The NRA's general counsel also said no Russian nationals have ever been members of the Golden Ring of Freedom program for million-dollar donors, according to the letter to Wyden.
Wyden appeared unconvinced, peppering the group with an additional round of questions.

In its latest response, the NRA said it no longer plans to cooperate with Wyden's inquiries.

Mary Ilyushina, Gloria Borger, Kara Scannell and Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.

NRA, Russia and Trump: How 'dark money' is poisoning American Democracy

Alex Tausanovitch and Diana Pilipenko of the Center for American Progress
Published 10:02 AM ET Thu, 15 Feb 2018 Updated 1:07 PM ET Thu, 15 Feb 2018
link


The FBI is investigating the National Rifle Association to determine whether Russians illegally funneled money through the organization to help the Trump campaign.

Beyond Russian meddling, this allegation illustrates a problem of even broader scope in our political system.

As American communities continue to be victimized by gun violence — including the mass shooting yesterday, in Parkland, Florida — the National Rifle Association continues to wield immense influence over American legislators, primarily through enormous campaign contributions.

But when it comes to funding, the NRA may have finally gone too far: the FBI recently launched an investigation to determine whether a Russian central banker, and Putin ally, illegally funneled money through the organization to help the Trump campaign.

These allegations have prompted a complaint to the Federal Election Commission and an effort by Sen. Ron Wyden to obtain documents from the Treasury Department and the NRA. As shocking as other Russia-related revelations have been — attempts to hack voting machines, vast Internet propaganda, leaking of stolen campaign information — this allegation illustrates a problem of even broader scope.

Although much of the reporting on Russia has focused on whether there was "collusion" with the Trump campaign — a genuine concern — the investigation is also revealing another disquieting reality: that American democracy has a money laundering problem.

Both in their personal finances and in their campaign support, politicians are relying on money hidden to the public, money which threatens to make them answerable to interests beyond those of the citizens they represent. The only way to combat this problem is to start shining a light on the dark corners of our politics.

In the most conventional sense, money laundering describes the process by which illicit funds are made to appear legitimate in origin, so they do not attract the suspicion of law enforcement.

"Recent reports have shown that money continues to move into Trump-branded properties from obscured sources like anonymous LLCs and shell companies."
However, money is also laundered to facilitate future crimes, particularly where the source of the funds would reveal an illegal purpose, or where money would otherwise be subject to a state or federal disclosure requirement.

Because it is illegal for foreign nationals to spend money in U.S. campaigns, obscuring funds coming from, say, an agent of the Russian government — by funneling them through an organization like the NRA — would be akin to money laundering.

Growing evidence is showing that money from hidden sources could be influencing current political leaders via two avenues: through the obscured personal finances of the president, and other public officials; and through secret contributions to political organizations.

It has been widely reported that a vast amount of Russian money is tied up in President Donald Trump's assets and business interests — interests which Trump, breaking with longstanding precedent, refused to divest or put into a blind trust upon assuming office. Recent reports have shown that money continues to move into Trump-branded properties from obscured sources like anonymous LLCs and shell companies.

One such report found that since Trump secured the Republican nomination in 2016, the fraction of anonymous purchases of his properties through shell companies has "skyrocketed" from 4 to 70 percent. The public can only guess at the source of these funds, whether they be foreign governments or wealthy domestic interests—and to what extent unknown sums pouring into other Trump businesses are being used to curry favor with the president.

Moreover, in the case of the NRA, the FBI is now investigating whether illicit funds were spent in support of Trump's political campaign. We have long warned that our broken system of campaign finance disclosure creates opportunities for foreign governments to illegally influence American elections, undetected.

The NRA is among the largest "dark money" organizations, reporting the greatest amount of campaign spending without revealing the source of the funds — over $35 million in the 2016 election cycle alone. Still, this amount was just a fraction of the over $175 million in reported campaign-related spending that came from unknown sources.

As these examples demonstrate, the Russia investigation is not just relevant to allegations of collusion, or even just to Russia. It is revealing a fundamental vulnerability in our political system — one that is being exploited by Russia, but that is also being exploited by others, foreign and domestic, who want to see American government serve their interests instead of the interests of the American public.

Fortunately, we know how to expose these bad actors. There are simple, commonsense steps that Congress, and even individual states, can take to restore transparency, accountability, and trust in how our country is run.

For example, legislators should require tax returns and other financial disclosures from presidential candidates and other high-ranking public officials; enhance campaign finance disclosure and eliminate conduits for foreign money by passing the DISCLOSE Act and the Honest Ads Act; and require greater corporate transparency in secrecy-prone jurisdictions like Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming.

These are only some of the ways to fight back against political money laundering, more of which are detailed in a new Center for American Progress report. The Trump campaign proved that these safeguards must be codified into law, rather than accepted as "norms" that candidates voluntarily comply with.

The thing all these solutions have in common is that they ask politicians and campaign organizations to answer a simple question: where is the money coming from? If they cannot or will not answer that question, then they do not deserve the public's trust.

But if civic leaders and politicians are willing to answer this call, they have a real opportunity to restore confidence in an American public that, though divided on many issues, is united on at least one: that American democracy is in need of a shot of reform.

Commentary by Alex Tausanovitch and Diana Pilipenko. Tausanovitch is the associate director, democracy and government reform at the Center for American Progress. Pilipenko is the associate director, anti-corruption and illicit finance at the Center for American Progress.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.

ummm, thats called the Trump organization.

NRA receives record haul of donations in wake of Parkland shootings

The gun rights organization says it's Political Victory Fund raised $2.4 million in March, setting a 21st-century fundraising record for the group in the month after a gunman killed 17 people at a Florida high school.

https://www.pressherald.com/2018/04/24/n...land-shootings/

Yup. The anmosexuals love them a good shooting. Gets them all warm and fuzzy. Opens those wallets good like.

Must of been all the russian oligarchs ...

Cool! A new name the Elitist Left has to call the rest of America.

ammosexuals... lmao

Except you’re wrong. This has nothing to do with politics. This has everything to do with the ‘their gunna take my guns!’ or the ‘gotta protect myself from the scary world’ folk that rush out after such incidents and buy more weaponry or donate more to the NRA.
I’m a gun owner. I’m not John Rambo, or living in fear and constantly strapped around the house. Nor do I allow shootings like these to emotionally drive me to the local gun store, or to cut a check to the NRA. Those that do...ammosexuals.

Except you're wrong.

I don't protest and burn down places where Liberal/Progressives speak.

I don't proclaim "Safe Speech Zones" to shut out free speech I disagree with.

I don't allow my beliefs to drive me to write a check or act like a Snowflake to fight against your First Amendment Rights.

Because I am an American. Sworn to protect and uphold our Constitution.

You threw a fit this week when a woman said she was glad Barbara Bush died, and demanded her firing.



You whine and moan constantly about how politically incorrect it is and how offended you are when football players don't stand up during a song.



You want the federal government to ban sex acts you find icky.

They now have CRYING CLOSETS at one of the colleges ...

Do they have those at the fire house ..... ....

No.
But I did carry little fluffy stuffed animals to comfort children involved in motor vehicle accidents.

I guess I could have used them for snowflakes who accidentally heard Trump speak.

Didn't you have to go into a crying closet after Brady Quinn flamed out?

You once had a whiny "why is everyone being so mean to me?" temper tantrum when everyone mocked you for spending a day arguing that Trump would've ran into the Parkland shooting to save the children.

You also had a similar meltdown when 3 or 4 posters were mocking Trump's wig; you went on a long whining rant about how "disrespectful" and "unpatriotic" it was.

And last week you caught a ban when you had a snowflake hissy fit because Cold made fun of you for the time you actually got scared when you believed that "ANTIFA SuperSoldiers" were going to behead "white parents" and "small business owners".

Don't bring that up, he'll report me again.

Have you seen anything 442 has posted?

Yup, I sent a check to the NRA. Not to support school shootings, like you insinuate, though. More to have representation against those thaw DO wish to remove guns. All guns.

If that makes me bad in your opinion. so be it. If that makes you think I support or endorse shootings, your problem, not mine.

If you sent a check to the NRA, I don't think you're for school shootings, but I do question the wisdom of funding insane Dana Loesch videos.

I'm not gonna tell you to how spend our money, but maybe it's better spent on your kid or the homeless or anything less dumb than paying Dana Loesch to shriek?

You can question me all you want.

My kid is just fine, thanks.

I contribute to many charities, thanks. Even 2 local ones. 1 provides housing for those down on their luck, and the other is a food pantry for those that need help.

What do you guys make of the OP's post? You think Mueller is after the NRA? Or is the local state AG on them? They must know something is coming or has... They are denying contact with the FBI, so who has them scared?

They better hope it remains the national rifle Association and not the national Russia association.

A prominent Kremlin-linked Russian politician has methodically cultivated ties with leaders of the National Rifle Association and documented efforts in real time over six years to leverage those connections and gain deeper access into American politics, NPR has learned.

Russian politician Alexander Torshin said his ties to the NRA provided him access to Donald Trump — and the opportunity to serve as a foreign election observer in the United States during the 2012 election.

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/01/590076949...a-ties-revealed

Hmmm

***FAKE NEWS***
E'rbody knows that npr stands for

national propaganda repository

Remember in the 60s and 70s when we were taught to fear the Russians?
Remember when conservatives wanted to hate on hippies?
Remember when we hated a war so much that we spit on our returning soldiers?
Remember Jim Crow?

Most remember the amazing scenes from the civil rights movement, the women's lib movement, Woodstock, and sending a man to the moon! What we witnessed was multiple revolutions that led to societal evolutions. We have experimented with so many ways to make things better... but most of them have been leading us back to where we began, then Trump came on the scene.

I've put a lot of thought into what's happening right now, right here. I think we are seeing historical, yet cyclical events unfold that will be our next great chapter in change. The battle for better or worse is being fought right now between the old guard and the new.

The times they are a changin', yet the more things change, the more they stay the same. Until all men are treated as equal, until there are no empty stomachs, until there are no homeless, until there are no needy, until people matter more than profits... We are all stuck on the puppeteers' hamster wheel, performing for the money masters.

Yeah, I need to stop smoking this s*&t.

Interesting thread you tried to start mac.. but it was about Trump, Russia, and the NRA.. sadly it was doomed from the start.... I'll check back later to see if anybody is talking about the actual threat of outside money and influence on our elections... because right now, there isn't a damn thing in this thread worth responding to...

It's the same 10 people bickering back and forth about the same stuff they are bickering back and forth about in 5 other threads...

Bro, how old are you

He's old, it's in his name.