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The National Rifle Association is one of the most powerful special interest groups in America. We’re investigating how it spends its money.
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Mike Spies covered the NRA for The Trace from June 2015 to June 2019. He is now a reporter at ProPublica.
Bang for the Buck
The organization’s leadership is focused on external threats, but the real crisis is of its own making.
Marketing firm Ackerman McQueen said it would “not tolerate” further contact between NRA Chief of Staff Josh Powell and its employees — and that the gun group's reaction drove their professional split.
The gun group’s lawyer said “not a cent” of the nonprofit’s money was spent on helping executive Wayne LaPierre’s house hunt. But accountants flagged a $70,000 payment for doing just that.
In a newly obtained document, the accountant raised ethical and billing concerns about the law firm of William A. Brewer III, whose fees totaled $24 million in a year.
Using fraudulent invoices, Woody Phillips diverted more than $1 million from a consulting firm to his personal account.
The gun group's foundation directed at least $180K to a nonprofit run by Susan LaPierre, who also asked NRA vendors to contribute.
The gun group has blamed its money problems on its longtime marketing firm, but a newly unearthed document shows that the financial improprieties reach further.
Lawmakers demand documents after The Trace’s reporting shows NRA’s use of shell companies to support Trump, Senate campaigns.
But will that give the gun group cover amid the wider Trump-Russia investigation?
The same media consultant purchased ads for the NRA and for Senate candidates in the Missouri, Montana, and North Carolina races.
National Rifle Association
The confessed Russian agent told an Israeli audience in 2013 that her gun rights group had a deal with the NRA.
Trump and the gun group used the same consultants to spearhead their TV ad blitzes at the height of the 2016 election, likely in violation of federal law.
Josh Powell, the National Rifle Association official who has been presiding over steep and controversial budget cuts within the organization, has been removed from his post as executive director of general operations and given a “promotion” to a strategic role,…
Gun Policy
The gun group’s latest tax filings disclose a wealth of new details, including generous executive benefits amid a growing cash crunch and mysterious payments to a former official.
The National Rifle Association is doing away with free coffee and water coolers for employees at its Fairfax, Virginia, headquarters — a cost-cutting move that has NRA insiders “freaking out,” The Trace has learned. “The whole building was freaking out,”…
A new complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission accuses the National Rifle Association and GOP Missouri Senate candidate Josh Hawley of engaging in “an elaborate scheme designed to evade detection” of campaign finance violations. The complaint from the…
