The National Rifle Association may have violated tax laws when top officials traveled to Russia in 2015, a trip that helped provide well-connected Russians with access to U.S. political figures, Senate Democrats said in a new report.
A long-running inquiry led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Finance Committee, found that senior NRA officials pursued personal business interests on the trip and then helped a senior Russian government official and a Russian gun rights activist meet GOP presidential candidates and other political figures during the 2016 campaign.
“During the 2016 election, Russian nationals effectively used the promise of lucrative personal business opportunities to capture the NRA and gain access to the American political system,” Wyden said as he released findings of an 18-month investigation by the Finance Committee minority staff into the NRA’s relationship with Russia.
