Alexander Torshin. (Alan Gottlieb photo)
By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
The ongoing FBI investigation into whether Russia helped influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election took a strange turn with a report by McClatchy that investigators are trying to determine whether a “top Russian banker” identified as Alexander Torshin may have “illegally funneled” money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The report set off a media frenzy, with various publications weighing in.
An NRA spokesman told TGM via email that, “The National Rifle Association has not been contacted by the FBI or any other investigative body.”
According to McClatchy and other published reports, the FBI’s Russia probe “has been heating up.”
The New York Daily News reported that, “It is not clear how much money changed hands between Torshin and the NRA, which along with the Russian Central Bank and the FBI did not comment on the report.”
Federal law prohibits using foreign money to influence federal elections, McClatchy emphasized. The McClatchy story also acknowledged, “The extent to which the FBI has evidence of money flowing from Torshin to the NRA, or of the NRA’s participation in the transfer of funds, could not be learned.”
Another leader in the gun rights movement, however, offered his perspective on the controversy because he has also met Torshin, on the subject of gun rights for Russian citizens, and he is skeptical about the reports.
Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, both based in Bellevue, Washington, said that he is taking the story “with a grain of salt.”
Gottlieb met Torshin on a trip to Moscow as part of his (Gottlieb’s) efforts to expand gun rights across the globe. Gottlieb was a major force behind the creation of the International Association for the Protection of Civilian Arms Rights (IAPCAR). The group has member organizations in several countries and on nearly all continents, and has appeared before a United Nations committee on the subject of small arms regulation.
“He (Torshin) has never tried to unduly influence me,” Gottlieb said.
Torshin, an officer with Russia’s central bank, is reportedly an NRA member and he has attended NRA conventions. Gottlieb recalled that Torshin has visited with him at the SAF display during past NRA gatherings, and that he has a strong interest in gun rights for Russian citizens. Because of his efforts, Gottlieb said Torshin is considered something of a hero among Russian gun owners.
“He’s been fighting for expanded gun rights, and he’s been trying to put a Second Amendment (equivalent) in the Russian constitution,” Gottlieb said.
Whether Torshin may have “funneled money” to the NRA as suggested by the McClatchy article, Gottlieb said, “I have no knowledge of any Russian money going to NRA to influence elections.”
“No offers were ever made to the Citizens Committee or Second Amendment Foundation,” he added. “No offers of funds were ever made to any groups I’m associated with.”
Gottlieb is involved in various conservative political activities and annually attends the Conservative Political Action Conference.
He also asserted that McClatchy has “a history” of news coverage critical of gun rights and the NRA.
“Therefore,” he said, “I have to take the story with a grain of salt.”
The story noted that NRA reported spending $55 million during the 2016 election cycle, including $30 million to support Trump’s candidacy. NRA endorsed Trump early in 2016, at its annual convention, even before the Republican convention held later in the summer. Trump appeared last year at the NRA convention in Atlanta, vowing to never let NRA members down. Trump is also a member of the association.
President Trump has repeatedly denied that there was any “collusion” between his campaign and Russia.
