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Amid Reported FEC Investigation, Did NRA Miss March 19 Deadline to Respond to Sen. Wyden’s Letter on NRA-Russia Money?

3.20.2018

In case you missed it, the NRA appears to have missed its March 19 deadline to respond to a Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) letter seeking detailed information on whether Russian entities contributed money to NRA accounts.

In Sen. Wyden’s March 5th letter to the NRA’s general counsel, the senator asked the NRA to clearly answer questions about the “possibility that Russian actors funneled foreign funds into NRA electioneering activity,” calling it a “matter of national security, campaign finance law, and American sovereignty.”

The deadline to respond to Sen. Wyden’s letter comes amid reports that the FEC has launched an investigation into whether “Russian entities gave illegal contributions to the National Rifle Association” during the 2016 election, according to Politico.

The NRA spent $55 million – or perhaps more than $70 million, according to McClatchy — to influence the 2016 elections, with at least $30 million going to elect President Donald Trump. But the NRA does not have to disclose all of its donors, making it difficult to tell where the majority of the money came from.

The NRA has denied that it used Russian money for election purposes. However, in a previous letter response to Senator Wyden, the NRA’s General Counsel “did not directly deny that the group had received any Russian money,” according to a report by McClatchy.