Senate Democrats Request IRS Investigation Of NRA

(The Hill) Naomi Jagoda 10/02/19 11:54 AM Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Wednesday requested that the IRS investigate the National Rifle Association (NRA) after Senate Democrats last week released a report on the groups interactions with Russian nationals. Given this reports concerning findings and other allegations of potential violations of tax exempt law by the NRA it is incumbent on the IRS to fully investigate the organizations activities to determine whether the NRAs tax exemption should be disallowed Wyden and Schumer wrote in a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. Along with the letter Wyden and Schumer transmitted to the IRS a copy of Democrats report on the NRA for the IRSs use in any examinations of the NRAs activities and exempt status. The NRA is a tax-exempt social-welfare organization under section 501(c)(4) of the federal tax code. It also has affiliated entities that are tax-exempt under sections 501(c)(3) and 527 of the tax code. The Democratic staff of the Finance Committee released a report on Friday titled The NRA and Russia: How a Tax-Exempt Organization Became a Foreign Asset. Wyden and Schumer said in their letter that the report confirms extensive interactions between Maria Butina Alexander Torshin and the NRA that had been cited by the Department of Justice. Butina is a Russian national who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to acting as a foreign agent and Torshin is a Russian official who Butina is widely understood to have worked with.