The Daily - A Crisis at the N.R.A.

Episode Date: April 30, 2019

A bitter power struggle has broken out inside the nation’s pre-eminent gun rights group. We look at how the mere threat of a financial investigation plunged the National Rifle Association into crisis. Guest: Danny Hakim, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, spoke with us from the N.R.A.’s annual convention in Indianapolis. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading:Wayne LaPierre was unanimously re-elected as chief executive of the N.R.A. after infighting with Oliver L. North, who was replaced as the group’s president.The N.R.A. is facing a number of challenges, including the New York attorney general’s investigation into the group’s tax-exempt status and the new financial strength of the gun control movement.

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today, an ugly power struggle has broken out inside the nation's preeminent gun rights group. How just the possibility of an investigation into its finances plunged the NRA into crisis. It's Tuesday, April 30th. The banners are up and exhibitors moving in for one of the city's largest and most polarizing conventions.

It's the second time Indianapolis has hosted the NRA. Well, beginning tomorrow, tens of thousands of people will be coming to downtown Indianapolis for the annual NRA convention. When these convention doors open, this place is going to be transformed into the world's biggest family reunion with acres and acres of guns and gear. Every year the NRA holds an annual convention. This year there were 15 acres of guns at the convention center in Indianapolis. Already, you've got folks who are coming in from all around the country. It's going to be a great weekend here in Indy. This year, however, the drama really was playing out behind the scenes.

Danny Hickam has been reporting on the NRA for The Times. It was really the biggest leadership crisis that the group has had for many years, since the 1990s at least, between two of the top figures in the NRA. And it really has the potential to cause turmoil even beyond this weekend. So Danny, where does all this turmoil

inside the NRA begin? Well, it might seem like something of a surprise, but the leadership turmoil within the NRA actually can be traced back to the attorney general's campaign in the state of New York last summer. Hmm. Hi, it's Letitia James, and I just received a questionnaire from some of my friends. The NRA. That's when Letitia James was the frontrunner in that race at the time. Do you really think they're going to endorse me? I'm going to fill it out anyway.

Stay tuned. And she began saying that she was going to investigate the NRA's tax-exempt status because the NRA is a nonprofit group. She even at one point referred to the NRA as a terrorist organization. And why is she talking about that in her campaign? Well, the NRA was actually chartered in the state of New York almost 150 years ago. And the Attorney General's office in New York

has jurisdiction over tax-exempt entities set up in New York. I mean, is that such a big deal to have the potential future attorney general of New York talking about the NRA's tax-exempt status, given how big and powerful this group is? It definitely got their attention. She declared that we, that's you and me and all of us here, the law-abiding men and women of the National Rifle Association are a terrorist organization. Within a few weeks of Tish James starting to say these things, the NRA began an audit just to prepare for a potential investigation.

How do you feel about being called terrorists by the incoming attorney general of New York State? Why does that line of investigation into its tax-exempt status make the NRA so nervous? What specifically about that classification is so important? Well, certainly if the NRA were to lose its tax-exempt status, it would have to start paying taxes, and that would make it a lot more expensive to operate. That would really change its whole financial profile.

Okay, so the NRA launches this internal audit to essentially get their house in order in advance of this pending investigation by the incoming New York attorney general that clearly they're pretty nervous about. So what happens? New York Attorney General that clearly they're pretty nervous about. So what happens? Well, they begin this internal audit, and in the NRA's telling, one of their largest and longest-serving contractors refuses to turn over a lot of its documents and financial records. Who is that, and why is that significant? So the contractor that wouldn't turn over its

records is a firm called Ackerman McQueen. They're an Oklahoma-based advertising firm that has really created the modern voice of the NRA over more than three decades. Greatness of America is displayed in our constitutional right to bear arms, a rich heritage and tradition that spans generations. They came up with the I'm the NRA campaign back in the 80s. And preserving all of this is the NRA, the National Rifle Association. They crafted a lot of the messaging for Charlton Heston when he was the president of the NRA. for Charlton Heston when he was the president of the NRA. So as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away,

I want to say those fighting words from my cold, dead hands. Good Friday to you. Welcome to NRA News. They operate NRA TV. A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Which is the NRA's online streaming service, which has really taken the NRA into a much sort of broadly harder edge than it's been before. The only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom

is to fight this violence of lies with a clenched fist of truth. I'm the National Rifle Association of America, and I'm freedom's safest place. So when we think of the modern NRA, this company that I hadn't really heard of before, Ackerman McQueen, they have created that identity, that brand. Yes. So why would this longtime partner of the NRA

who has created its modern identity successfully refuse to participate in this audit? Well, there's a lot of money at stake here. The NRA directs more than $40 million annually to Ackerman McQueen. And there have been questions raised by the Times and other papers about how that money is being spent. And anytime you're dealing with a tax-exempt entity, you know, sending large amounts of money to a contractor, there have been questions raised about whether executives at the NRA have benefited personally

from any of that money going to Ackerman. And there's one contract in particular that has been a real point of contention between the two groups. And that's the contract of Oliver North, the president of the NRA. Wait, why does Oliver North have a contract with the agency that the NRA hires to do its marketing? Well, Oliver North was brought in as president of the NRA about a year ago. And the presidency of the NRA has traditionally been a ceremonial post. It's not been paid. So the president has really been kind of a public face of the NRA, not an operational executive.

In this case, however, Oliver North wants to make money. Racist, terrorist, traitor. These are names NRA members are called because we defend our flag, our national anthem, and the heroes they represent. So he ended up being paid by Ackerman McQueen to host a web show called Oliver North's American Heroes. We're going to introduce you to American heroes, people who put themselves at risk for the benefit of others, because they're the ones who inspire us to be better people, better Americans, American heroes.

Americans. American heroes. And Danny, in whose interest is it that the NRA not see its president's contract with the NRA's ad agency? Well, it's not in the interest of the NRA. It seems like Ackerman had some reason for not wanting to disclose that contract and other aspects of its relationship with the NRA. For some reason, they didn't want to turn over their financial records, at least as the NRA presents it. From the NRA's perspective, they need to have a full understanding of all their executives and the top officials' relationships with all of their contractors. Because, you know, investigators for the attorney general's office are going to be looking at those kind of relationships. And those can run nonprofits into trouble when top officials are getting personal financial benefits from contractors.

And so what is the reaction by the NRA to this refusal by its advertising company to comply with this audit that they feel they really need in order to be able to defend themselves against this investigation into their tax status? Well, it led to the NRA suing Ackerman McQueen a few weeks ago, which was really a stunning development given how close these two organizations have been over the years. It was a really surprising turn of events. And so the NRA is realizing that it may be vulnerable to this investigation by Letitia James. That's right. Okay. And then what happens? So it's really at the convention that this really ugly backroom struggle

burst out into the open. Right before the convention starts, Oliver North makes a call to one of Wayne LaPierre's top aides. Wayne LaPierre has run the NRA for many years, and he says that LaPierre needs to resign. Wow. More than that, he says if LaPierre doesn't resign,

Ackerman is going to send a damaging letter to the board, and it's going to be damaging both for LaPierre and some other high-ranking officials. So this is an outright threat. Yes. And he also says that if LaPierre does resign, North will make sure that he gets a comfortable retirement package.

Which sounds like an outright bribe. Well, this is the account that LaPierre and his allies have provided about what happened. They felt like it was extortion. And he didn't take kindly to being threatened. And he wrote a letter to the board the next day. Here's what he said. He said, yesterday evening, I was forced to confront one of those defining choices styled in the parlance of extortionists as an offer I couldn't refuse.

I refused it. Wow. As an offer I couldn't refuse, I refused it. Wow. So the two leading figures of the NRA, the two most senior officials of this organization, they're trading threats. They are trying to oust each other. like just the possibility of an investigation by the New York Attorney General is causing this much havoc inside an organization that I think most of us think of as basically invincible. So how is that possible? Well, I don't think the NRA is necessarily as invincible as it might have been

in the past. I mean, this is happening at a time when the gun control movement is as well-financed as it's ever been. Hello, I speak to you today on the eve of the midterm elections. In the 2018 midterms, you saw just an influx of money on the gun control side, and you saw groups backed by Michael Bloomberg,

the former mayor of New York. Like you, I've watched the recent bombings and mass shootings with growing alarm. Political violence tears at the heart of our democracy. And violence against a religious group and a house of God tears at the heart of our humanity. Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman who was shot. Do you have the courage to fight? Stand with me. Vote, vote, vote. Please, join your voice with mine.

They really poured a lot of money into four House races where the incumbents had received A ratings from the NRA and all four of those incumbents lost. So things like that have made a difference in the debate. They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun. We call BS! And you also had a string of mass shootings that really mobilized sort of a new generation of activists. They say that us kids don't know what we're talking about, that we're too young to understand how the government works.

We call the end. And at the end of it all, the gun control groups outspent the NRA in the midterms, which really doesn't happen very often, if ever. So that was a real sea change for the gun control movement. So it seems like you're saying that this kind of investigation, it might not have caused this much turmoil inside the NRA if the environment around the NRA wasn't shifting in the way that it now seems to be shifting. The NRA is seeing their opposition as more formidable and they're reacting accordingly. Yes, I think that's right. So, Danny, once all this tension breaks out into the public, how does this convention end? The power struggle within the National Rifle Association has come to a breaking point.

The group's president, Oliver North, says that he will not return for a second term in office. Over the last few days, Oliver North essentially appeared to be stepping aside. In a letter, the retired Marine Lieutenant General wrote that he had hoped to be re-nominated for a second one-year term as president, but was, quote, informed that would not happen. At the board meeting Monday, Wayne LaPierre was re-elected unanimously as the chief executive of the NRA, and Mr. North was replaced by a longtime member of the NRA, Carolyn Meadows, who was also elected unanimously. And this is a very large board with more than 70 members. So it appeared to be a repudiation of Oliver North. So the LaPierre side of this power struggle, the one arguing in favor

of disclosure, in this case, prevails over the Oliver North camp, which was resisting it. That's right. It seemed like a very clear, indecisive victory for Wayne LaPierre. And it potentially means the end of the relationship with Ackerman McQueen, the contractor. And that, you know, that really has the potential to change the voice of the NRA and the kind of broad, hard-edged messaging it's been doing beyond gun rights in recent years. So where does this leave the investigation by Letitia James, the New York Attorney General? Well, that is really just starting. On Friday, she sent letters to the NRA and several of its related groups, informing them of the investigation, telling them to preserve documents. But it's really just beginning. You know, I think Letitia James is going to be a thorn in the NRA's

side for a long time to come. So clearly what you're describing here has been a genuine crisis for the NRA. But the NRA is extremely skilled at navigating crises. And we've talked a lot about it on The Daily, about the power of the NRA not being so much its ability at any moment to donate lots of money to politicians, but instead its ability to turn the moments that seem like they're the greatest threats to the NRA's agenda, frequent mass shootings, into moments that actually strengthen the NRA. Because it has deployed this playbook of activating its members to lobby lawmakers across the country to vote based on the way the NRA rates them. So I wonder, does this latest episode,

this power struggle, and even potentially the possibility of their NRA losing its tax-exempt status. Does any of that change or dilute the NRA's power? Well, you know, the NRA has always thrived on a sort of siege mentality. Look where we are today. We're embroiled in controversy, where our opponents launch these launched these rogue strategies, and they actually engage in order to take us down and take NRA down in unlawful behavior. To turn these challenges into ways to rally their members. The governor's chosen candidate for attorney general vowed to attack the NRA as a pillar of her campaign platform even before she was elected into office. That's right. That was certainly an evidence at the convention this past weekend.

They hate our NRA. They hate our freedom. And that's why we're going to keep fighting for you. And that's why this case, what we're dealing right now, is perhaps the most important First Amendment case in the history of the United States of America. But Danny, as you said, the NRA has for a really long, operated in the absence of a formidable opposition. And that is clearly changing. And I wonder if that will change its ability to weather what's now coming, whether it's Letitia James or the rest of the gun control movement.

You know, I think it's a much more even playing field than it's ever been, certainly financially. And you see the gun control groups fighting at the state and local level in a way that they just didn't have the financial wherewithal to do in the past. You know, I think for years, the NRA operated at the state level without much opposition. And now you have gun control groups that are really pushing back. It's a much more even fight than it's been in many years. Right. And it feels very telling that opponents of the NRA were able to identify and exploit this vulnerability inside the NRA, this seemingly obscure issue of its tax status, and completely rock the organization in the process.

That they are savvier in a way that they haven't been before and that maybe there's no longer an assumed world of advantage for the NRA. I think that's right. It was just the threat of this investigation of the NRA's tax status that set off this chain of events that led us to where we are. And I think that tells us that the opponents of the NRA are learning more about how to get under the organization's skin. And after the string of mass shootings there's been, I think they're more motivated than they've ever been. Danny, thank you very much. Thank you, Michael.

We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. On Monday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed the special counsel and oversaw much of his investigation, submitted his letter of resignation. During his brief, controversial tenure, Rosenstein became so alarmed by President Trump's conduct, the Times found, that he suggested secretly recording him and recruiting

cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. But in his resignation letter, Rosenstein praised the president and said he was honored to serve him. And for the first time in five years, the Islamic State released a video of the group's reclusive leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, suggesting that he has survived the defeat of ISIS's territorial home. He survived the defeat of ISIS's territorial home. Sitting on a mattress with a machine gun by his side, al-Baghdadi acknowledged that ISIS has lost its once sprawling caliphate in Iraq and Syria to U.S.-backed forces, and he congratulated the perpetrators of the Easter Sunday suicide bombings in Sri Lanka,

an attack for which ISIS has claimed responsibility. bombings in Sri Lanka, an attack for which ISIS has claimed responsibility. Those attacks and Monday's video are the latest sign that ISIS intends to remain an active terror group despite its military setbacks. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.