The suit alleges that the organization spent as much as $35 million in this way since 2014. Most of it allegedly went to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, but the suit claims other beneficiaries include Hawley, who won his Senate seat in 2018. Also cited in the suit are Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and others.
While federal election law limits the amount that donors can give to candidates in cash or services, an organization can spend freely in support of a candidate, as long as there is no coordination between the organization and the candidate. The lawsuit alleges that the NRA’s shell companies used the same personnel and vendors as the Republican campaigns were using to create ads for the campaigns, coordinating their efforts.
If true, that essentially means the NRA was making tens of millions of dollars worth of in-kind contributions to the campaigns, which it wouldn’t be allowed to do directly. The suit seeks to stop those practices.
These aren’t mere technicalities. Campaign contribution limits exist for a reason: A big donor shouldn’t be able to impose its agenda on society just by opening its checkbook. That is perhaps especially true when the agenda in question is to prevent America from confronting the carnage that the NRA and its GOP enablers are causing.
