Senate Dems request NRA documents related to alleged financial wrongdoing

Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Friday requested documents related to allegations of “financial impropriety” made by former National Rifle Association (NRA) President Oliver North. 

They sent letters requesting memos, audits, letters and other materials to North, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre and CEO Revan McQueen of the PR firm Ackerman McQueen. They asked for the documents by May 16.

{mosads}They specifically requested a copy of a letter LaPierre submitted to the NRA’s board of directors, a memo sent by North to the NRA’s executive committee and investigations conducted by or for the “NRA Crisis Management Committee,” among other documents. 

An attorney for the NRA told The Hill in a statement that it would cooperate with information requests and that it did not form the “Crisis Management Committee.” 

“The Association will cooperate with all appropriate information requests,” said William A. Brewer III, counsel to the NRA. “The NRA has full confidence in its accounting practices and commitment to good governance. The board of directors did not form a so-called Crisis Management Committee, as the matters in question fall under the jurisdiction of current NRA board committees. The issues raised by Col. North were, for the most part, vetted and approved after review and investigation by the NRA last year.”

Ackerman McQueen did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Hill.  

The request comes at a moment of internal strife for the NRA. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported on a leadership struggle between LaPierre and North over alleged financial improprieties, which culminated in North leaving the gun rights group. 

LaPierre in a letter to the organization’s board claimed that North was trying to extort him to force him out of the group. 

North had previously sent a separate letter to the board detailing alleged financial wrongdoing related to more than $200,000 of wardrobe purchases by LaPierre that were charged to a vendor, according to the Journal. 

New York’s attorney general is also probing the group’s tax exempt status.  

Updated at 11:33 p.m.