The NRA connection to the Trump-Russia scandal gets even uglier

| 11:11 am EDT May 2, 2018
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We know that Donald Trump likes to claim success prematurely. Whether it was pulling support from American citizens in need of help in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, or the Republican faux pas of announcing “Mission Accomplished” much too soon, it’s clear that Trump will claim success despite evidence pointing to the contrary. When Trump claimed vindication in the Trump-Russia scandal, while also calling for the end of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, following the release of the Republican’s House Intelligence report, most saw this as a premature celebration.

When the Democrats’ 98 page House Minority report came out shortly after, it was evident that the Republicans intentionally ended the investigation in a partisan effort to not only protect Trump but to block the Democrats from questioning important witnesses, including every single Trump associate who has already been indicted by Mueller.

One of the key findings in the Minority Report involved the role of the NRA. Not only did the NRA disperse vast sums of money to GOP campaigns, with a current investigation into how much of that money actually came directly from Russia, it was found that the gun lobby group also worked as a direct back channel between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin (https://shareblue.com/nra-russian-funding-ron-wyden/). The report explains how Russia was deliberately working to set up connections and create strong relationships with those close to Trump. Paul Erickson, a longtime NRA member, attended a guns rights meeting in Moscow in 2014. In late 2015, Erickson, along with future NRA President Pete Brownell and vocal Trump supporter and ex-sheriff David Clarke, met with Kremlin officials in Moscow.

In May 2016, Erickson emailed Trump aide Rick Dearborn with the subject line “Kremlin Connection” saying “quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S.” while advocating for the NRA convention to act as the venue for a “first contact” with the Trump campaign, saying they can “slowly begin cultivating a back-channel to President Putin’s Kremlin.” It is bombshells like this that the Republicans clearly did not want to become public, thus their urgent need to end the investigation as fast as possible. Luckily for America, there are Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee that actually want to get to the bottom of the Trump-Russia conspiracy. While I will not prematurely say that Trump is caught, I’m pretty sure that Mueller will emphatically announce that soon.