The National Rifle Association (NRA) announced Thursday that they are suing New York Attorney General Letitia James. The complaint was in response to a lawsuit filed earlier Thursday morning by the attorney general against the organization.
The NRA’s complaint alleges that James’ original lawsuit was politically motivated, rather than fueled by any “sincere belief” that the NRA was breaking the law, according to the lawsuit which was sent by the NRA to the Daily Caller. The attorney general accused several top executives of financial misconduct, claiming that they cost the organization more than $64 million over a 3-year period. The NRA denied all of James’ allegations. (RELATED: New York Attorney General Announces Lawsuit Seeking To Dissolve The NRA)
The NRA also alleged that James’ predecessor, former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, warned the NRA that “key Democratic actors” were putting pressure on the Attorney General’s office “to pursue the NRA for purely political purposes.”
“In a telephone call to Tom King, an NRA director, in late 2017, Schneiderman emphasized that while he opposed the NRA’s positions on the Second Amendment, he felt troubled by recent, extraordinary pressures being placed on his office by powerful political interests,” the lawsuit said.
“As stated in the complaint, I was privately warned by then NYAG Eric Schneiderman that Governor Cuomo was engineering an attack on the NRA,” King said in a statement. “I was told Cuomo would use every resource to pursue his lifelong dream of defeating the NRA, and an ‘investigation’ of our Association was on the horizon.”
“I always expected better of the governor, and hoped he would rise up to honor the principles under which he was elected,” King added. “I feel compelled to share this story today for all who hoped this state would put its people first – not use them as pawns to advance Cuomo’s partisan agenda.”
The organization claimed in the lawsuit that despite cooperating fully with the attorney general’s investigation, “the NRA has not been treated fairly by James’s office.”
NRA President Carolyn Meadows said in a tweet that James’ lawsuit was “a baseless, premeditated attack on our organization and the Second Amendment freedoms it fights to defend.”
(1/3) NRA PRESIDENT RESPONDS TO NY AG:
This was a baseless, premeditated attack on our organization and the Second Amendment freedoms it fights to defend. You could have set your watch by it: the investigation was going to reach its crescendo as…
— NRA (@NRA) August 6, 2020
“You could have set your watch by it: the investigation was going to reach its crescendo as we move into the 2020 election cycle. It’s a transparent attempt to score political points and attack the leading voice in opposition to the leftist agenda.”
“This has been a power grab by a political opportunist – a desperate move that is part of a rank political vendetta,” she added. “Our members won’t be intimidated or bullied in their defense of political and constitutional freedom. As evidenced by the lawsuit filed by the NRA today against the NYAG, we not only will not shrink from this fight – we will confront it and prevail.”