Some NRA members want to know more about the alleged financial malfeasance flagged by Oliver North


Monday is Oliver North's last day as president of the National Rifle Association, after an unusually public internal struggle evidently won by NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre. North announced Saturday he wouldn't seek the traditional second one-year term as president because the NRA board opposed him. Two days earlier, LaPierre had told the board that North tried to oust him by threatening to expose "a devastating account" of financial other alleged malfeasance.
North was absent from Saturday's meeting of NRA members, and near the end, "some members challenged efforts to adjourn and pushed to question the board about controversies involving its financial management, the relationship with its longtime public relations firm, and details of what North sought to raise about alleged misspending, sexual harassment, and other mismanagement," The Associated Press reports. Board members objected.
The meeting devolved into an intense 45-minute debate "over whether the NRA's financial woes should be discussed in public" and "a resolution calling for the resignation of LaPierre," reports Brian Freskos at The New Yorker. "The resolution, put forward by a member from Pennsylvania, accused LaPierre of having 'squelched and ignored' issues raised nearly 20 years ago regarding Ackerman McQueen," the NRA's longtime public relations firm, which it is now suing. NRA members eventually approved the NRA leadership's motion to move the discussions to Monday's private board meeting.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
And not all NRA members are upset by the drama and allegations of financial impropriety. "It just sounds like any other corporation we know of," Jeannette Sharp, who runs a shooting range in Louisiana, told The Washington Post on Sunday.
The NRA faces a potentially existential threat from New York's attorney general, who announced an investigation into the NRA's tax-exempt status on Saturday. You can read more about decades of alleged self-dealing and sweetheart deals among NRA leadership, Ackerman McQueen, and other vendors, in a recent joint investigation from The New Yorker and The Trace.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Digital consent: Law targets deepfake and revenge porn
Feature The Senate has passed a new bill that will make it a crime to share explicit AI-generated images of minors and adults without consent
-
Will Republicans tax the rich?
Today's Big Question Trump is waffling on the possibility of taxing wealthy earners
-
Slovenia is ready for its moment in the travel spotlight
The Week Recommends Mountains, lakes, caves and coastline await
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff display
Speed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loom
Speed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panels
Speed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
-
Crafting emporium Joann is going out of business
Speed Read The 82-year-old fabric and crafts store will be closing all 800 of its stores
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pauses
Speed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect
-
Chinese AI chatbot's rise slams US tech stocks
Speed Read The sudden popularity of a new AI chatbot from Chinese startup DeepSeek has sent U.S. tech stocks tumbling
-
US port strike averted with tentative labor deal
Speed Read The strike could have shut down major ports from Texas to Maine