Politics FBI ‘investigating whether Russian money went to NRA’s campaign to help elect Donald Trump’

Activists are demanding the National Rifle Association (NRA) reveal if it received donations from Russia, after it was reported the FBI is investigating whether a Kremlin-linked Moscowbusinessman channelled money to the group’s campaign to help Donald Trump win the election.

With the influence of the NRA under mounting scrutiny following a school shooting in Florida and the campaign led by students to change the country’s gun laws, campaigners say it is vital that investigators uncover if the powerful lobbying group group used any Russian money to help elect Republican members of Congress and Mr Trump during the 2016 race. It is against the law to use foreign money in federal election campaigns.

It was recently reported the FBI was focusing its attention on Alexander Torshin, a former member of the upper house of Russia’s parliament and currently deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, who is said to have a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The 64-year-old gun enthusiast is also said to be a Life Member of the NRA.

Since McClatchy News first reported Mr Torshin and the loan were being investigated, campaigners have been seeking to pressure the NRA to come clean about its funding.

Kristin Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, told The Independent that the NRA, which was founded in 1871 as a recreational group designed to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis”, today got most of its funding from gun manufacturers.

“NRA members should be outraged if even a portion of this alarming story is true. The NRA tells its members that it defends America’s freedoms,” she said of the McClatchy News report.

“If the NRA is actually a front for Russian interests and interfered with our elections, actively or passively, then they have undermined the very democratic freedoms they purport to represent. We can only wonder how many true patriots will decide that this is the last straw and give up their NRA memberships.”

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The NRA spent a record $55m during the 2016 election cycle, directing money towards campaigns and adverts supporting members of congress it judged to be most supportive of its aims and polities. Senator Marco Rubio, who this week was publicly challenged by a Florida shooting survivor to vow to refuse to take NRA money, has received at least $3.3m from the NRA during his career, the sixth most of the current members of Congress. During the 2016 election, the NRA scored Mr Rubio “A+”, its highest ranking.

The largest amount of money from the NRA in 2016, a total of $30m, went to Mr Trump. It helped pay for advertisements supporting his campaign and attacking that of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. The money was spent by a wing of the NRA that is not legally obligated to reveal who its donors are.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...estigation-mueller-banker-money-a8225581.html

 

I believe it would depend on what the NRA did with the money. If they used it to buy guns then that would be okay. If they used it to support political candidates then that would be very illegal.

 

Foreign citizens or governments can not donate to political candidates.

Even if it's a candidate you love and support.

 

https://www.fec.gov/updates/foreign-nationals/

 

Well, it’s illegal.

The Federal Election Campaign Act states in unambiguous terms that any contribution by a foreign national to the campaign of an American candidate for any election, state or national, is illegal. Likewise, anyone who receives, solicits, or accepts these contributions also violates the statute. Foreign national, in this case, means anybody not a US citizen that doesn’t have a green card.

What happens if someone violates the act?

They get fined, mostly. In 1975, Congress created the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act, bestowing on it exclusive jurisdiction over civil enforcement of the act. In other words, they charge people money for breaking the law.

In theory, the “knowing and willing” acceptance of foreign contributions can result in jail time. To do this, the FEC needs to refer its case to the Department of Justice. This rarely happens. As of last year, in the FEC’s forty-year history, it has recommended only 22 cases to the Department of Justice. The DOJ, however, can seek out and prosecute these cases on its own.

Are there any major examples of foreign contributions to US elections?

One of the largest and more interesting scandals involving foreign contributions to a presidential election involves the Democratic Party, Bill Clinton, the China’s People Liberation Party, Al Gore, and a Californian Buddhist monastery. The FEC documents describe fundraising attempts by members of the DNC that set prices so foreign nationals could meet with President Clinton and Vice President Gore. In response to these findings, the FEC imposed a civil penalty on the DNC, the International Buddhist Progress Society, and various other actors for a cumulative total of $719,500.

 

And that's why is in the investigation phase.

If Russia wrote in the little memo part of the check, "For Donald Trump's president campaign. MAGA!" then it's a problem. If they just gave millions of dollars to the NRA without any conditions at all then it's not illegal.