The NRA’s Reported Ties to Russia, In a Timeline

BY MIKE SPIES AND ALEX YABLON  ·January 19, 2018

On Thursday, McClatchy dropped a heckuva scoop: The FBI is investigating whether Russia illegally funneled campaign funds to the NRA as part of the country’s effort to influence the 2016 presidential election.

The NRA spent more than any other outside group to elect Donald Trump and other Republicans, shelling out $55 million (and maybe in excess of $70 million, according to two sources McClatchy spoke with, when undisclosed spending on online ads and grassroots outreach are factored in). Federal investigators want to know if the gun group illegally got some of those funds via a Kremlin-connected oligarch named Alexander Torshin.

Details regarding links between the NRA and powerful Russian interests have been dribbling out for months. In November, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein ratcheted up the intrigue when she sent a letter to the White House requesting any documents connected to the 2016 campaign, Torshin, the NRA, and a slew of conservative power brokers.

The NRA has largely avoided commenting on the matter, though last summer, NRA TV personality Grant Stinchfield denied any illegal ties between the group and Russia. Here’s what’s known about Moscow’s courtship of the NRA, and the NRA’s subsequent role as a venue for Russian overtures to the Trump campaign.

2011
G. Kline Preston, a conservative lawyer in Nashville with business connections to Russia, introduces then-NRA president David Keene to Torshin, a powerful senator in Russia and close to President Vladimir Putin. Torshin, who styles himself as a gun enthusiast, is a lifetime NRA member. Around this time, Torshin’s young female aide, Maria Butina, creates Right to Bear Arms, a Russian version of the NRA and the first group of its kind in the country.

Fall 2013
Butina and Torshin host Keene and other American gun rights advocates at the Right to Bear Arms annual meeting in Moscow. Two hundred people take part in the event, the Washington Post will note, which includes a fashion show featuring clothes that have tailor-made pockets meant to conceal handguns. Around the same time, Spanish authorities build a case against Torshin for allegedly laundering money through Spanish banks and properties for the Russian mob. (Torshin has denied any connections to organized crime.)

April 2014
Butina and Torshin attend the NRA’s annual meeting in Indianapolis, where Butina is treated as a VIP. She presents a plaque to then-NRA president Jim Porter, and appears at one of the group’s events as a guest of David Keene. She is also asked to address attendees at the Ring of Freedom dinner, a special banquet that honors individuals who make high-dollar contributions to the NRA.

Read more
https://www.thetrace.org/2018/01/nra-russia-timeline/