This piece by McClatchy was released a month ago, but it’s very relevant today.
As the NRAs Wayne LaPierre attacks the FBI, the organization he heads is being investigated by the FBI for possibly accepting money from Russia to help Donald Trump during the 2016 election.
LaPierre has to be real nervous about this development last month.
The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy.
FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA, the sources said.
It is illegal to use foreign money to influence federal elections.
The NRA spent triple the amount of money to support Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016, than they spent on Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign.
Flush with cash in 2016. Not so much in 2012.
The majority of the $30 million spent to support Trump was by an arm of the NRA that is NOT required to disclose where the money came from.
Blood money being hidden. How convenient, eh?
The extent to which the FBI has evidence of money flowing from Torshin to the NRA, or of the NRA’s participation in the transfer of funds, could not be learned.
However, the NRA reported spending a record $55 million on the 2016 elections, including $30 million to support Trump – triple what the group devoted to backing Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race. Most of that was money was spent by an arm of the NRA that is not required to disclose its donors.
Alexander Torshin is a leading figure in Putin’s party and he has ties to the mob.
Trump and the mob in the same sentence is a trend.
Torshin, a leading figure in Putin’s party, has been implicated in money laundering by judicial authorities in Spain, as Bloomberg News first revealed in 2016. Spanish investigators alleged in an almost 500-page internal report that Torshin, who was then a senator, capitalized on his government role to assist mobsters laundering funds through Spanish properties and banks, Bloomberg reported
Torshin is an ardent supporter of Donald Trump and mentioned the NRA and that Trump was really “for cooperation with Russia”, as the New York Times reported:
Mr. Torshin is ardently pro-Trump, and on numerous occasions since 2015 has posted Twitter messages about the president. In a post in February 2016, Mr. Torshin wrote: “Maria Butina is now in the USA. She writes to me that D. Trump (NRA member) really is for cooperation with Russia.”
Remember, when LaPierre is attacking the FBI think Torshin, the mob and illegal foreign contributions. Wayne LaPierre and the NRA better be afraid. Very afraid.
If the FBI uncovers that Torshin and the NRA colluded, they’ll be going down with all the others in Trump’s treasonous crowd.