Trump Rushes to Defend Embattled NRA by Claiming It’s ‘Under Siege’ by NY Democrats

President Donald Trump is running to defend the embattled National Rifle Association (NRA), after infighting at the very highest levels during its annual members convention ended with accusation of extortion and ultimately the ouster of its president.

Trump had addressed the convention on Friday, literally minutes after a judge handed down the maximum sentence to Russian agent Maria Butina, who infiltrated the NRA in an attempt to influence the Trump campaign.

Hours later, reports came that NRA President Oliver North was accusing longtime NRA head Wayne LaPierre (photo, right, with Trump) of misusing NRA funds, and LaPierre accused North of extortion.

The NRA is also the focus of an investigation by the State of New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James, which ultimately could lead to its non-profit status being challenged or revoked. (Trump’s non-profit, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, suffered a similar fate, shutting down after an investigation.)

Trump is using alleged misdeeds by NRA leadership to attack his political opponents, two top New York Democrats.

“The NRA is under siege by Cuomo and the New York State A.G., who are illegally using the State’s legal apparatus to take down and destroy this very important organization, & others,” Trump tweeted, referring to NY Governor Andrew Cuomo. “It must get its act together quickly, stop the internal fighting, & get back to GREATNESS – FAST!”

What the NY AG is doing is not illegal. It’s actually an important part of her job.

And here’s evidence of why.

According to a report by Mike Spies at The Trace, published in partnership with The New Yorker, the NRA is a disaster.

“According to interviews and to documents that I obtained — federal tax forms, charity records, contracts, corporate filings, and internal communications — a small group of NRA executives, contractors, and vendors has extracted hundreds of millions of dollars from the nonprofit’s budget, through gratuitous payments, sweetheart deals, and opaque financial arrangements. Memos created by a senior NRA employee describe a workplace distinguished by secrecy, self-dealing, and greed, whose leaders have encouraged disastrous business ventures and questionable partnerships, and have marginalized those who object.”