The moves ended a bitter internal fight that pitted North, a right-wing celebrity since he emerged in the Iran-Contra scandal, against LaPierre, the best-known face of the gun rights movement. They came as the NRA is facing an array of challenges, including an investigation by the New York attorney general into the group’s tax-exempt status, and the new financial strength of the gun control movement. In a statement Monday, LaPierre said he was “humbled by the board’s vote of confidence and its support of my vision for the future.”
North’s successor is Carolyn D. Meadows, a longtime member who was also elected unanimously, as the group did not seek to replace North with another celebrity. The NRA’s presidency historically has been a largely ceremonial post, though North had sought to make it a paid one.
The power struggle began Wednesday when North warned that unless LaPierre resigned, one of the NRA’s top contractors would release “a devastating account of our financial status, sexual harassment charges against a staff member, accusations of wardrobe expenses and excessive staff travel expenses,” according to details provided in a letter LaPierre sent the next day to the NRA board.
LaPierre viewed the threat as an extortion attempt, and the board sided with him in the brief internal battle. North and his allies have said he was trying to seek a needed review of allegations in recent news reports that the group had potentially violated its tax-exempt status.
The dispute was related to a bitter legal battle between the NRA and one of its largest contractors, Oklahoma-based advertising firm Ackerman McQueen. So intertwined has the firm been with the gun rights group that many of the most visible NRA personalities are Ackerman employees, including North.
Only hours before the leadership votes Monday, President Donald Trump tweeted that the NRA “must get its act together quickly, stop the internal fighting, & get back to GREATNESS — FAST!”
He also complained that the group, a critical ally, was “under siege” by New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, whose administration is in the midst of a legal battle with the NRA over an insurance program offered to gun owners. Trump said the officials were “illegally using the state’s legal apparatus to take down and destroy this very important organization.”
Cuomo, for his part, said New York would keep the NRA “in our thoughts and prayers” while James’ office, in a statement, said she was “focused on enforcing the rule of law.” It continued, “We wish the president would share our respect for the law.”
The NRA was chartered in New York, and the attorney general’s office has broad authority over tax-exempt groups registered in the state. An investigation by the office recently forced the closure of Trump’s charitable foundation.
In a letter sent Friday to the NRA, the attorney general’s office said it was investigating “transactions between the NRA and its board members, unauthorized political activity, and potentially false or misleading disclosures in regulatory filings.”
Trump also called on the NRA to leave New York and “fight from the outside of this very difficult to deal with (unfair) State!”
Tax experts said it could be difficult for the NRA to move its charter and assets to another state while under investigation.
Marcus S. Owens, a partner at Loeb & Loeb who for a decade served as director of the Exempt Organizations Division of the Internal Revenue Service, said in an email that such a move would “require the approval of the NY Attorney General and approval by the NY courts, both of which are almost certainly not going to concur.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.