NRA Sued For $35 Million In Illegal Contributions To Trump And Senate Republicans

The reeling National Rifle Association has been sued for $35 million in illegal campaign contributions to Trump and Senate Republicans.

The NRA Was Funneling Tens Of Millions Of Dollars In Illegal Contributions To Trump And Senate Republicans

The Campaign Legal Center provided the details of the lawsuit in a statement to PoliticusUSA:

 Today, Giffords filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against the NRA for violations of campaign finance laws dating back to 2014. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Giffords by Campaign Legal Center Action, alleges that the NRA engaged in a broad pattern of activity that violated the  Federal Election Campaign Act. Since 2014, the NRA has made as much as $35 million in unlawful, excessive, and unreported in-kind campaign contributions to seven federal candidates, including candidates for US Senate in 2014, 2016, and 2018, and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

…..

The lawsuit seeks several forms of relief, including an order preventing the NRA from violating the law in future elections, and a penalty equal to the amount of money unlawfully spent, which the NRA would pay to the US treasury—potentially as much as $35 million.

The races at the heart of the lawsuit include the following (with the candidate receiving the NRA’s support in bold):

• 2014: Thom Tillis in the race for Senate in North Carolina (vs. Kay Hagan); Tom Cotton in the race for Senate in Arkansas (vs. Mark Pryor); Cory Gardner in the race for Senate in Colorado (vs. Mark Udall)

• 2016: Ron Johnson in the race for Senate in Wisconsin (vs. Russ Feingold); Donald Trump in the presidential race (vs. Hillary Clinton)

2018: Josh Hawley in the race for Senate in Missouri (vs. Claire McCaskill); Matt Rosendale in the race for Senate in Montana (vs. Jon Tester)

The NRA Has Been Under Investigation And Scrutiny For Years Over Illegal Contributions To Republicans

The Giffords in the lawsuit is the Giffords Law Center To Prevent Gun Violence run by former Rep. Gabby Giffords.

The FEC has sat on its hands for years as the NRA blatantly violated campaign finance laws. The gun manufacturer lobby has been providing illegal donations to Republicans and has been under investigation for laundering illegal foreign dollars into Republican campaigns and providing Russians access to Republicans.

The NRA has been a vital piece of the Republican dirty money machine for decades, and the lawsuit could be another historic step in shutting down the corrupt Second Amendment front group.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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