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Oliver North appeared to be heading out of the National Rifle Association amid a dramatic and fast-developing power struggle at the top of the influential gun rights organization.
North announced during the annual NRA meeting in Indianapolis he had been told he could not seek re-election as president, ending a brief one-year tenure.
The unexpected moved comes less than 24 hours after it was reported that North and long-serving NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre were locked in conflict over the group’s future direction and a swirl of legal troubles.
“Please know I hoped to be with you today as NRA president endorsed for re-election. I’m now informed that that will not happen,” North said in a letter read at the NRA’s national convention by the group’s second vice-president Richard Childress.
It was unclear exactly what North’s announcement meant amid the apparent power struggle, and it comes before a key meeting of the group’s board on Monday, when North’s term ends.
North, a longtime conservative commentator best known for his central role in the 1980s Iran-Contra affair, said in his letter he was being forced out due to his allegations that NRA leaders engaged in financial improprieties.
North’s letter did not outline any allegations in detail. His general remarks would seem to lend credibility to reporting from the New Yorker and the Trace from earlier this month, however, detailing allegations of financial mismanagement, nepotism, greed and self-dealing among employees of both the NRA and PR firm Ackerman McQueen, which has helped define the NRA’s strategy and talking points for decades.
“There is a clear crisis and it needs to be dealt with” if the NRA is to survive, North’s statement said.
It has been a whirlwind of a convention for NRA leadership. On Thursday night, LaPierre wrote a letter to the NRA’s board, claiming that he was being pressured to resign by North, and by Ackerman McQueen, the Wall Street Journal reported.
LaPierre wrote that he was warned on Wednesday that, unless he resigned, damaging allegations would be made to the board against him regarding sexual harassment of a staff member and “accusations of wardrobe expenses and excessive staff travel expenses”.
Having seemingly won the internal battle, LaPierre enjoyed a victory lap of sorts Saturday, soaking up two standing ovations from the crowd of more than 1,000 NRA members.
His scheduled speech, which followed North’s announcement launched off with standard NRA talking points – going after the mainstream media and lawmakers who seek to restrict gun rights. He made no mention of his feud with North.
“Our enemies have sunk to new lows,” LaPierre said, attacking Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, where regulators have scrutinized NRA operations.
The NRA has sued the state, claiming its rights under the constitution’s first amendment are being violated. In an unusual pairing, the American Civil Liberties Union has joined the NRA in its fight.
NRA officials are concerned that regulators in New York where its charter was filed are attempting to strip the group of its nonprofit status.
LaPierre told the crowd that efforts to strip away the second amendment right to bear arms will fail.
“We won’t accept it. We will resist it. We won’t give an inch,” he said.
On Friday, Donald Trump appeared at the convention, where he announced that the US will withdraw its support for a United Nations treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade.