Oliver North won't return as NRA president, says 'There is a clear crisis'

Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North will not return as the National Rifle Association’s president, amid an open conflict with Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre about the group’s finances. “Please know I hoped to be with you today as NRA president endorsed for re-election,” NRA First Vice President Richard Childress said, reading a letter he said was from Mr. North at the group’s annual meeting of members here on Saturday. “I’m now informed that will not happen.” The NRA announced in May 2018 that Mr. North would be the group’s next president. Mr. North said in the letter, read by Mr. Childress, that he officially assumed the office as NRA president in September 2018 and said he was confronted by NRA board members who expressed concern about the amount of money the NRA was paying to the Brewer law firm. He said he and others tried to raise concerns, but they were rebuffed repeatedly. “There is a clear crisis. It needs to be dealt with immediately and responsibly so the NRA can continue to focus on protecting our Second Amendment,” he said. “I have been on the NRA board for more than two decades. It was a great privilege to serve as your president this past year — an honor second only to serving our country as a U.S. Marine in combat,” he said. “So if you ever need me in the future, just call — I will come.” Mr. North had indeed been slated to appear at the Saturday meeting. There was a place reserved for him onstage next to Mr. LaPierre that was left empty. Mr. LaPierre said in a letter to board members this week that Mr. North and Ackerman McQueen, the group’s longtime advertising firm, were effectively trying to extort him and force him to resign from his post. Carolyn Meadows, the group’s second vice president, introduced Mr. LaPierre at the meeting on Saturday as “my hero,” calling him “the toughest fighter for Second Amendment freedom I’ve ever known.” When Mr. LaPierre was introduced, many in the audience stood and applauded. “We’re speaking with one voice,” Mr. LaPierre said. Mr. LaPierre had said in his letter to the board this week that Mr. North conveyed a message to a top staffer that unless Mr. LaPierre resigned his post, Ackerman McQueen would release allegedly damaging information to the NRA board. “I believe our Board and devoted members will see this for what it is: a threat meant to intimidate and divide us,” Mr. LaPierre said in the letter. In his own letter to the board late Thursday, Mr. North had said Mr. LaPierre was reacting to an earlier memo Mr. North had sent announcing he was forming a special committee to look into alleged financial improprieties within the NRA. “We are facing a serious crisis,” Mr. North said in the letter, obtained by The Washington Times. “To date, my repeated efforts to inquire about the proprieties of management’s financial decisions have consistently been rebuffed.”...MORE