"This is an unconstitutional, premeditated attack aiming to dismantle and destroy the NRA – the fiercest defender of America's freedom at the ballot box for decades. "The NYAG's actions are an affront to democracy and freedom," LaPierre said in a statement in August. "With the assistance of Phillips, Powell and Frazer, LaPierre abused his position as a fiduciary to the NRA to obtain millions of dollars in personal benefits in the form of undisclosed, excessive compensation," the lawsuit said, "which includes in-kind benefits and reimbursements from the NRA and its vendors."Īccording to the lawsuit, Powell's salary tripled to more than $800,000 just two years into the job despite "numerous complaints of abusive behavior," including two allegations of sexual harassment, which he has denied, and "evidence of illegal conduct and inappropriate spending" for which he was ultimately fired.īoth the NRA and LaPierre have dismissed the allegations in the lawsuit as a baseless and politically motivated attack. "In spite of Wayne's attempts to paint the other side as the 'Elites,' he himself was the epitome of elitism," Powell writes, "robbing every $45-dues-paying member to cover the costs of his own extravagance and his shameful mismanagement of a multi-hundred-million-dollar association." And that strategy worked, time and again."Īnd he condemned the hypocrisy that he said funded LaPierre's lifestyle. Whenever the organization fell short in its funding drives, Wayne would 'pour gasoline on the fire' to ignite donations. "Wayne in essence bowed to the most militant and extreme faction of the NRA's five million members. He helped to create and fuel the toxicity of the gun debate over the years, until it became outright explosive," Powell writes. "I think the biggest transgression of the NRA under Wayne was that he turned the NRA into an organization of 'No,' in response to any effort to quell gun violence. He accused LaPierre of cynically manipulating the public dialogue on guns for fundraising purposes and "stoking a toxic debate" for the purposes of "keeping those donation dollars coming." In his forthcoming book "Inside the NRA: A Tell-All Account of Corruption, Greed, and Paranoia Within the Most Powerful Political Group in America," Powell's portrayal of LaPierre, who Powell says he once "look up to," is particularly stark. "Gun owners across America," Powell said, "should be horrified by what I saw inside of the NRA." He not only decried the alleged mismanagement of millions of dollars in charitable donations for the personal use of the organization's top executives but also denounced the organization's posture on the issue of gun violence, particularly in the wake of school shootings, as self-serving and dangerous. Powell, one of four top NRA executives named in the lawsuit, is now seeking to distance himself from the organization he once helped lead. "I think that the attorney general is really at the tip of the iceberg in understanding what's gone on at the for 30 years." "I think the NRA faces a massive threat," Powell said. In an exclusive interview with ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas, Joshua Powell, who formerly served as chief of staff to longtime NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, said the lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James seeking to dissolve the NRA for an array of "illegal conduct" merely scratches the surface of a much deeper culture of corruption. A former high-ranking official within the National Rifle Association is breaking ranks with the powerful gun lobby, publishing a book that accuses its leaders of decades worth of mismanagement and fraud that he says has left the organization in a state of financial and moral disarray.
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