Russia may have funneled money to the National Rifle Association during the 2016 election, and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden wants to know more:
“The national security as well as legal implications of these reports make it imperative that Congress conduct a thorough investigation,” Wyden wrote in his letter to [Treasury Secretary Steven] Mnuchin.
A separate letter addressed to NRA treasurer Wilson Phillips Jr. included a more specific request for documents that detail financial transactions with Russian nationals.
“I am specifically troubled by the possibility that Russian-backed shell companies or intermediaries may have circumvented laws designed to prohibit foreign meddling in our elections,” Wyden wrote.
The Russia-NRA ties go deep, with efforts to set up a meeting between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, an NRA delegation—including notorious Trump-supporting Sheriff David Clarke—to meet with a very sketchy Russian figure, and more. The NRA supported Trump’s election campaign with more than $30 million in outside spending, so if Russia managed to secretly pour money into that effort, its influence on the 2016 elections could be much bigger than previously realized.
Congress needs to look at those documents, and if Republicans don’t join Wyden in pushing for them … well, it’ll be just one more piece of evidence that Republicans don’t want to know about Russian election interference and aren’t interested in preventing it from happening again.