In yet another weird coinkidink where somehow Russians managed to connect with the Trump campaign of 2016, we find the NRA in the middle. A Russia/Trump sandwich with the nasty gun PR lobbying group in the center. Interesting.
How do we know this? Well, the Daily Beast is reporting that the Senate Judiciary Committee reported on Wednesday that documents "suggest the Kremlin used the NRA to offer the campaign a back channel to Moscow—including a potential meeting between Trump and Vladimir Putin—and might have secretly funded Trump’s campaign."
WHOA. This is big news, if true. As we all know, foreign governments cannot contribute in any way to United States elections. Like, zero. Not a penny.
If true, this is a huge problem for the NRA, especially since they spent a record $30 million on the Trump campaign. How much of that money came from Russia (or Qatar or China or some other company trying to curry favor with Donald Trump and the Trump Organization)?
The Daily Beast is reporting that there are two central Russian figures in this story: Alexander Torshin, who acts as deputy governor of the Kremlin’s central bank, and his former deputy, Maria Butina. Torshin met Trump Jr. at the 2016 NRA convention - another one of those "meetings with Russia" that Trump Jr. forgot about. Butina reportedly starting a business with an NRA member, Paul Erickson.
Follow the money. Let's see how much of the NRA funding is dirty. Will their supporters care, though?
