NRA in crisis: how the gun group became ensnared in the Russia inquiry | US news

During the National Rifle Association’s May 2016 convention, where Donald Trump won the organisation’s coveted endorsement, board member David Keene hosted a private dinner that drew three Russian lifetime NRA[1] members: a since-convicted Kremlin influence agent, her handler and mentor, and a previously unreported Russian who chairs a defense industry foundation, the Guardian has learned. For the powerful 5 million-member NRA, the Russia[2] ties of Keene and other NRA bigwigs are political and legal headaches that won’t go away – not with the FBI and congressional panels pursuing lengthy probes into the Kremlin’s alleged scheme to influence the pro-gun giant’s top brass, other conservative groups and US politicians. In fact, as American politics has become consumed with the impact of Russia’s attempt to disrupt the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, the NRA and some top board members have also become ensnared in Russia-related investigations, delivering an unexpected blow as the NRA’s links to Russia come under increasingly close examination. The links are a complex web as evidenced by two of those at the 2016 convention dinner. Ex-Moscow banker Alexander Torshin, who was sanctioned last year, and his gun rights protege Maria Butina, who in late 2018 pleaded guilty to being a Russian influence agent and is now cooperating with US law enforcement, spent years cozying up to the NRA and some of its leaders. Their goal was to “establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over US politics”, according to Butina’s later plea agreement. US prosecutors, who charged Butina with conspiracy to act as an agent of Russia, have indicated that GOP operative Paul Erickson, who worked closely with her, is a target too, and Torshin was her handler. Moreover, Senate and House panels are also continuing probes that began in 2018 into the NRA’s Russia ties,

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