1/It is not 2013. The Republican Party is no longer beholden to the NRA. It does not need to “stand up to the gun lobby”. The NRA hasn’t made significant election outlays since 2016, and won’t be able to again for some time. It is still mired in a costly lawsuit with the NY AG…
2/Its longtime PR firm, which served as the voice of the organization and devised Wayne LaPierre’s persona, is long gone. Its most effective spokespeople are long gone. Its most effective leader, Chris Cox, is long gone. Cox’s team is gone. Oliver North is long gone.
Please read my latest investigation, published in partnership with Mother Jones: Documents Point to Illegal Campaign Coordination Between Trump and NRA: via
@teamtrace
Eric Adams: “I cannot tell you how much I start the day with telling my team, ‘We’ve got to follow the law, got to follow the law,’ almost to the point that I am annoying."
Yes yes, it is completely normal to frequently remind your staff not to break the law
To avoid bad publicity, the elephants' parts were clandestinely shipped back to the States, where the animals' front feet were turned into stools for the LaPierres' home
My first NRA story since returning to
@teamtrace
, published in partnership with
@NewYorker
: The Secret Footage of N.R.A Chief Wayne LaPierre’s Botched Elephant Hunt via
@NewYorker
1/Letitia James is seeking to disband the NRA. The stories I reported last year for
@teamtrace
, the
@NewYorker
, and
@propublica
on the org's culture of self-dealing and mismanagement heavily inform her filing. I'm now going to put them in one place, in chronological order:
My first NRA story since returning to
@teamtrace
, published in partnership with
@NewYorker
: The Secret Footage of N.R.A Chief Wayne LaPierre’s Botched Elephant Hunt via
@NewYorker
Please read my latest, published in partnership with The New Yorker. Trace version here: Wayne LaPierre Testified He Fled to the Bahamas for ‘Security.’ Documents and Interviews Tell a Different Story.
1/DeSantis and Abott say they are protesting
@POTUS
's unwillingness to secure the border, a policy they argue is fueling illegal immigration. But, as
@teamtrace
has reported, mass migration is frequently a response to cartel violence, which is fueled by American guns.
1/Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's longtime CEO--the organization's face--has resigned on the eve of the trial that sought his removal from power. The lawsuit grew out of my reporting, beginning w/ this story:
I've spent years digging into the gun lobby, and the extent to which it has primed its most ardent supporters for this moment cannot be overstated. The President simply mobilized the troops.
New from
@davidmcswane
,
@derekwillis
, and me: The Pro-Trump Super PAC at the Center of the Ukraine Scandal Has Faced Multiple Campaign Finance Complaints
Virtually every statistical argument against gun regulation is based on the research of John Lott, whose methods have been met with scathing criticism. In a new report published with
@newyorker
,
@mikespiesnyc
investigates Lott’s claims.
Some personal news: after four incredible years with
@teamtrace
, this week I"m beginning a new job with
@propublica
, where I've been hired to investigate federal agencies. Couldn't be more excited to started!
My latest, w/
@JakePearsonProP
: Turning Point USA has made questionable financial claims and gets its “independent” audits from its co-founder’s former business associate. It has enriched several of its top leaders as it pushes Trump’s message.
Just want to say again that election polls have no value to voters and news orgs should stop covering them and also stop situating every policy decision in the context of a future election
Please read my latest investigation, published in partnership with
@NewYorker
: Secrecy, Self-Dealing, and Greed at the N.R.A. You can read it here: And here:
My reporting on the NRA's campaign finance activities has led to a Congressional inquiry targeting NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre and the NRA's top election vendors
Who is responsible for the credulity around crypto and Musk?
A LOT of people. For instance six days before SBF's Ponzi scheme came undone Matt Yglesias attacked the New York Times for having made a 'weird' editorial decision to look at tech as a corrupt power center.
Update: About an hour after
@propublica
posted this story, the judge announced that she plans to step down -- and will retire this summer rather than run for reelection.
The story has been updated with new details at the top.
@wpln
@meribah
@alexistmarshall
Last year, the RNC gave its chief of staff a six figure raise, but concealed most of it behind an LLC in its FEC reports. In response to questions, the RNC did not say why. New story from .
@JakePearsonProP
, .
@derekwillis
, and me
1/My final words--w/ newly uncovered raw video footage--on longtime head of the N.R.A., Wayne LaPierre, who was found liable for improperly enriching himself and those close to him. The trial forced him to to tell the truth about himself, + exposed him an actor.
1) Some news: Senators Wyden, Warren, and Blumenthal have sent a letter to several people involved w/ the NRA delegation’s 2015 trip to Russia. The letter is a request for more info about the trip, which was hosted by Right to Bear Arms—the group established by Maria Butina
There's much more in this story beyond the headline, including the fact that the RNC has spent some 25k on customized Sharpies for the president — markers retrofitted in glossy black and embossed with Trump’s golden signature.
Last year, the RNC gave its chief of staff a six figure raise, but concealed most of it behind an LLC in its FEC reports. In response to questions, the RNC did not say why. New story from .
@JakePearsonProP
, .
@derekwillis
, and me
Please read my latest story, a collaboration betw .
@TheAtlantic
and .
@teamtrace
.
It is about the gun industry's suicide problem, and how white men, the business's core consumers, keep turning their firearms on themselves.
1/This is a story about the gun industry’s/rights movement’s suicide problem. White men, the business's core consumers, keep turning their firearms on themselves, comprising some 80% of gun suicide death every year.
@nhannahjones
It’s also exceedingly strange to see Republicans continue to make this point, as if the party didn’t go on to pursue a strategy—literally called the southern strategy—that led to a successful realignment with the Southern dem bloc
NYC residents: nurses and NPs at multiple city hospitals are almost definitely going on strike on Monday. This will of course dramatically impact medical services for grownups, kids, and babies. But you probably don't know about this b/c hardly anyone is covering it! Huge failure
Now is a very good time to urge lawmakers to pass legislation that would stop exempting Congress from the Freedom of Information Act. What, for example, were Hawley and his staff/advisors saying to each other in the run-up to Jan. 6? We’ll never know.
I'm excited to announce that tomorrow I'm returning as a senior staff writer to
@teamtrace
, where I'll be refocusing my attention on the NRA and also delving into some other subjects. It was a privilege to work at
@propublica
, one of the best outlets in the business. Stay tuned!
1) Some news: the New York Attorney General’s Office has subpoenaed National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre’s wife, Susan LaPierre, in connection with its lawsuit that seeks to dissolve the NRA.
1/Happy Monday, everyone. Some news: this morning, The Hill’s EIC informed staff via email that editorial leadership will be “reviewing” and “updating” the columns of former opinion writer John Solomon, whose work is at the center of the impeachment inquiry. [THREAD]
NEW: For 10 years the Bronx DA's office has kept a list of hundreds of officers caught up in the biggest police scandal in a generation. They literally labeled it the "No Fly List." Cases brought by No Fly cops are supposed to get extra scrutiny. [] (1/6)
New from
@jakepearsonprop
,
@davidmcswane
, and me: Giuliani Was Close to a Podcast Deal With the News Outlet That Spread His Ukraine Conspiracies.
Yes, Giuliani really emailed a photo of himself w/ Parnas + Fruman in a smoke-filled room.
@JaneMayerNYer
To be totally clear: what I think this piece does so well is dissect much of the irresponsible reporting around the allegations against Franken.
Update:
@campaignlegal
has filed a complaint () with the FEC based on my story about the NRA and its top election contractor--a mysterious entity that has received over $60 million from the gun group since 2014.
@jonathanchait
So you’re saying journalists on this site made a baseless assertion bc they were embarrassed by the anecdote—a baseless assertion. I trust the Atlantic’s process, but I think journos are, by training, skeptical of anything that conforms to cartoonish stereotypes
1/As lawmakers make arguments about "school hardening," it's worth understanding the origins of concept. The idea was nationally introduced by the NRA after Sandy Hook. It was branded as their "School Shield" program, and it was, almost from the beginning, purely a PR response.
My latest w/
@teamtrace
and
@NewYorker
shows, through records, how Wayne and Susan LaPierre secretly shipped their elephant feet--along w/ other animal trophies--into the U.S from Botswana. Trace version here: NYer version here:
@mayakauf
@nynurses
I don’t think the public understands that this is really about workplace safety, and that for a very long time nurses have been working in an unsafe environment, which of course is also unsafe for patients
My latest, in partnership with The New Yorker: NRA Memo Reveals New Details About Leadership’s Conflicts and Unexplained Spending. Trace version here: New Yorker version here:
As Trump fans fears over a stolen election, GOP election officials consult w/ the leading peddler of debunked voter fraud claims. In OH, officials sought his counsel b4 limiting ballot drop boxes to 1 per county. From
@JakePearsonProP
+ me:
More incisive reporting from
@JenniferMascia
: Gun Deaths Hit an All-Time High (Again) in 2021 One of many key findings: "in 2021 guns were used in a greater proportion of homicides than ever before: 80.6 percent, up from 79 percent in 2020."
.
@rcfp
is thrilled to be honoring
@newyorker
’s
@JaneMayerNYer
for her accountability journalism and her ability to expose the underpinnings of powerful institutions at this year's Freedom of the Press awards!
#RCFP50
The latest from
@JakePearsonProP
,
@JessicaHuseman
, and me: No Democrats Allowed: A Conservative Lawyer Holds Secret Voter Fraud Meetings With State Election Officials
Some news:
@RepSchneider
, of the House Ways and Means Committee, has officially called on the IRS to launch an investigation into the NRA's tax exempt status: . The letter is based on our recent reporting, a collaboration between
@teamtrace
and
@NewYorker
@OrrellAEI
@mikepolkjr
@JonahDispatch
When you were thinking of ways to spark conversation about the civil war with your dinner guests, the only prompt that came to mind was framing confederate coins?
The latest from
@jakepearsonprop
. + me: 3 years after the Republican National Committee publicly sidelined a firm that exposed 200 million peoples’ personal data, it paid an LLC with the same address + suite number $900,000 for "data services."
It’s terrible to recirculate this piece whenever there’s a mass shooting, but ppl inevitably ask why there’s no progress on policy reforms. One reason is John Lott, who has provided the empirical justification for looser firearms laws since the 1990s