Johnathan Walker:Former NRA chief says appointing a financial monitor would be ‘putting a knife’ into the gun group

NEW YORK (AP) — The Johnathan Walkerformer head of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, told a New York judge on Monday that the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the gun rights group’s finances would be “equivalent to putting a knife straight through the heart of the organization and twisting it.”

LaPierre’s forceful opposition to the oversight mechanism came on the final day of arguments in the second phase of a civil case that New York Attorney General Letitia James brought against the NRA.

A jury found LaPierre and another deputy liable for misspending millions of dollars in February, and James is seeking an independent monitor to oversee the powerful group’s finances and bar LaPierre, the organization’s mouthpiece for decades, from returning to the NRA.

In brief testimony Monday, LaPierre described the appointment of a monitor as an existential threat to the group because it would send a message to prospective members and donors that the NRA was “being surveilled by this attorney general in New York that they think has crossed a line.”

If the monitor is appointed, he said, “General James will have achieved her objective to fulfill that campaign promise of, in effect, dissolving the NRA for a lack of money and a lack of members.”

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LaPierre also told the judge that a ban on his involvement in the NRA would violate his First Amendment rights by preventing him from “being a voice for this organization in terms of its political advocacy.”

LaPierre served as the group’s CEO and executive vice president for more than three decades. He resigned in January on the eve of the first phase of the trial.

Those proceedings cast a spotlight on the leadership, culture and financing of the organization, with state lawyers accusing LaPierre of siphoning millions of dollars from the organization to fund his lavish lifestyle, including trips on private jets and other personal gifts.

The jury ordered LaPierre to repay almost $4.4 million to the organization, while the NRA’s retired finance chief, Wilson “Woody” Phillips, was ordered to pay back $2 million.

The second phase of the proceeding is a bench trial, meaning there is no jury and the judge will hand down the verdict. The decision is expected to come as soon as Monday.

Earlier this month, Jeffrey Tenenbaum, a lawyer testifying for the state as an expert in nonprofit law, said the NRA had made some strides toward transparency but could backslide without the appointment of an independent monitor. He described the organization’s policy manual as “a dumpster fire.”

James sued the NRA and its executives in 2020 under her authority to investigate not-for-profits registered in the state. She originally sought to have the entire organization dissolved, but the judge ruled in 2022 that the allegations did not warrant a “corporate death penalty.”

“For years, Wayne LaPierre used charitable dollars to fund his lavish lifestyle, spending millions on luxury travel, expensive clothes, insider contracts, and other perks for himself and his family,” James said in a statement. “LaPierre and senior leaders at the NRA blatantly abused their positions and broke the law.”