Ex-NRA President Duped Into Speaking At Event Staged By Parkland Parents' Group
Ex-NRA President Duped Into Speaking At Event Staged By Parkland Parents’ Group
A gun safety group tricked two high-profile gun advocates into addressing a fake high school graduation ceremony featuring a sea of empty chairs meant to represent the children who did not finish school because they were shot.
Videos of the stunt were posted Wednesday by Change the Ref, an organization founded by Patricia and Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin was murdered in the Parkland, Florida…
A conservative operative told a campaign aide he could arrange a back-channel meeting between Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia through his pro-gun connections.
So much collusion #NRA #TrumpPutin #2016Election
“Russia is quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S. that isn’t forthcoming under the current administration” #MagnitskyAct #RussiaSanctions
“Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump. He wants to extend an invitation to Mr. Trump to visit him in the Kremlin before the election. Let’s talk through what has transpired and Senator Sessions’s advice on how to proceed.”
— Paul Erickson, N.R.A. member and conservative activist
A conservative operative trumpeting his close ties to the National Rifle Association and Russia told a Trump campaign adviser last year that he could arrange a back-channel meeting between Donald J. Trump and Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, according to an email sent to the Trump campaign.
A May 2016 email to the campaign adviser, Rick Dearborn, bore the subject line “Kremlin Connection.” In it, the N.R.A. member said he wanted the advice of Mr. Dearborn and Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, then a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump and Mr. Dearborn’s longtime boss, about how to proceed in connecting the two leaders.
Russia, he wrote, was “quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S.” and would attempt to use the N.R.A.’s annual convention in Louisville, Ky., to make “ ‘first contact.’ ” The email, which was among a trove of campaign-related documents turned over to investigators on Capitol Hill, was described in detail to The New York Times.
Jeff “I Don’t Recall” Sessions is neck deep in it
Mr. Sessions told investigators from the House Intelligence Committee that he did not recall the outreach, according to three people with knowledge of the exchange.
Alexander Torshin is called “godfather” or“boss” by the leader of the Taganskaya mafia in Moscow.
Alexander Torshin, a deputy governor of the Russian central bank and key figure in Mr. Putin’s United Russia party, was instructed to make contact with the Trump campaign.
Mr. Torshin, he wrote, was planning to attend a reception being planned by Mr. Clay honoring wounded veterans that he expected Mr. Trump would also attend. Mr. Torshin expected to use the reception to “make ‘first contact’ ” with the candidate and present Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, with a gift from the Russian Orthodox Church.
Spanish investigators say that while he was in Parliament, Mr. Torshin laundered money for the Russian mafia through Spanish banks and properties. Mr. Torshin has denied those accusations.
Did Rick Dearborn notify Jeff Sessions, or anyone else in the Trump campaign? If so, WHO?
Why didn’t Dearborn or the Trump Campaign notify the FBI?
Rick Dearborn, left, a Trump campaign adviser, received an email asking for advice on how to arrange a meeting between Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia
More names for the Mueller Justice League
Paul Erickson
Rick Dearborn
David Keene
David A. Clarke
Rick Clay
Russians
Alexander Torshin
Maria Butina
Read “From Russia with Love for the NRA“ by Ladd Everitt for a complete timeline.
All of this ties back to K.T. McFarland’s email, Russia 'has just thrown the U.S.A election to him [Trump] ', NYTimes
David Keene, Gary Jarmin, Sean Moon & the Second Amendment Foundation
▲ Pictured: Alan Gottlieb, pastor and guns rights activist
From an old post from “Don Diligent,” posted May 27, 2020
A recent post on WIOTM takes us to an article about David Keene and his support of the Algerian Military Junta: https://www.algiersherald.com/former-nra-president-david-keene-writes-propaganda-piece-to-prop-up-military-junta/
Oh, how some things never seem to change. Mr. Keene was a close colleague of Gary Jarmin at the American Conservative Union (ACU) in the mid-1970s. Jarmin had been Neil Salonen’s top lieutenant for the Leadership Freedom Foundation (FLF) up until 1974. That year, Bo Hi Pak, apparently ,sent out our dear brother Gary, to work for Mr. Moon in an “underground” capacity with the ACU. 3 years ago I posted about Gary Jarmin and the ACU, plus some of his other connections.
One name that I didn't mention in that 3 year-old post was Alan Gottlieb. Gottlieb worked closely with Jarmin at the ACU. Here’s a partial list of the ACU Board Members as it looked in 1976. Gary Jarmin was the ACU Legislative Director that year:
*M. Stanton Evan (Chairman)
*Thomas S. Winter (Vice Chairman)
*Jameson G. Campaigne, Jr. (Secretary)
*Daniel Joy (Treasurer)
*Rep. Philip Crane (NOTE: 1st U.C. Congressman ever to sit down with Sun Myung Moon. Neil Salonen was present at this meeting)
*Alan Gottlieb
*David A. Keene (NOTE: On Board of Directors of the American Council for World Freedom (ACWF) along with Neil Salonen)
*Stefan Possony (NOTE: On Board of Directors of the American Council for World Freedom (ACWF) along with Neil Salonen)
*Phyllis Schalfly (NOTE: On Board of Directors of the American Council for World Freedom (ACWF) along with Neil Salonen)
So what does all this have to do with Sean & Justin Moon? For those of you that didn’t watch the Freedom Festival last year (sponsored by Kahr Arms), Alan Gottlieb was the keynote speaker. That’s right!…the very same Alan Gottlieb that worked with “undercover Moonie” Gary Jarmin back in the 1970’s! Gottlieb founded the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) in 1974, which is the exact year that Gary Jarmin went “undercover” for the Moon Organization. Coincidence? You be the judge! Here’s an article that talks about Gottlieb’s participation at Sean & Justin’s event:
Now, as many of you know, Gottlieb is not the only person that has worked with Sean & Justin. Besides Gottlieb, there is Larry Pratt & Oliver North. And all these men, along with Gary Jarmin, have been members of the Council for National Policy. This is a fascist organization, that pulls strings from behind the scenes affecting U.S. Policy. I’m sure you all noticed, that I included this organization in the title of my 3-year-old post. I made my case then, that the Moon Organization had/has close ties with the CNP.
If you’d like to know more about the CNP, here’s a podcaster that can fill you in on a lot of their history:
The unlikely union of the American gun-rights movement and Moscow starts with G. Kline Preston IV, a Tennessee attorney who says he’d like Vladimir Putin to run the U.S government.
Betsy Woodruff, Adam Rawnsley, and Spencer Ackerman at The Daily Beast:
The first American to introduce two of the major players at the heart of a shocking Russian spy scandal has such deep ties to Moscow that he has doubted Barack Obama’s American citizenship in the course of demonstrating his affinity for Vladimir Putin.
“As long as U.S. is electing foreign-born presidents,” tweeted Tennessee attorney G. Kline Preston IV in 2013, “I propose Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.”
Two years later, at a rally featuring soon-to-be-President Donald Trump, Preston tweeted: “Donald Trump today in Nashville. He is a friend of Russia.” He wrote the message in Russian.
In other words, at the very beginning of what appears to be an audacious geopolitical gambit to pivot the American right in Moscow’s direction is a birther who has explicitly stated a preference for Vladimir Putin to run the United States of America. He’s also something of a Confederate enthusiast, according to his Facebook activity.
“As long as U.S. is electing foreign-born presidents... I propose Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.”— G. Kline Preston IV
Preston’s offline activities mirror his social-media habits. He’s occasionally works as a freelance elections observer for Russia, testifying about the fidelity and freedom of various Russian elections and bringing Moscow an American voice it can point to for legitimacy. And he’s brought officials to his home state of Tennessee to witness an American presidential election up close. Preston is also tied to Marsha Blackburn, a conservative congresswoman running for Senate in Tennessee.
It’s just a small indicator of Preston’s longstanding ties to Russia, and in particular to Alexander Torshin.
Torshin, a former Russian parliamentarian now under Treasury Department sanctions, is a friend and confidant of Preston, who has described Torshin as a client. In 2011, according to multiple accounts, Preston introduced Torshin to David Keene, then the president of the National Rifle Association. (Torshin “was interested in the NRA so I hooked him up,” Preston told The Tennessean earlier this year.) It’s the first known contact between the NRA and the Russians, and it wouldn’t be the last.
Preston’s ties to Torshin are particularly significant now that a Torshin protégé is accused of infiltrating the NRA to tilt the supremely influential lobby group in a pro-Russian direction—and with it, the Republican Party.
Last week, federal prosecutors charged Maria Butina, a Russian national who made inroads to the U.S. right through a stated love of guns, with being an unregistered Russian agent, tight with Russian intelligence, who traded sex for influence in American right-of-center circles. A figure matching Torshin’s description is listed in court documents only as a “Russian Official.”
Butina, working with Torshin, spent years cozying up to American conservatives to sell them on Russia as a natural ally for the American right. Preston was there first.
Preston studied in Russia as an undergraduate and speaks the language fluently, according to a 2002 article in the Nashville Business Journal. His Facebook page says he studied at Leningrad State University. According to his LinkedIn page, Preston has 20 years of experience doing business with Russia. The page also boasts that he gave a speech to the Russian Duma in 2009 and that he is an expert on Russian copyright issues. Indeed, Preston even published a 2008 book on Russian copyright law and represented the Russian pop singer Sergey Lazarev in a licensing dispute over his song “Almost Sorry.”
A cached version of Preston’s law office’s website boasts of extensive work with Russian clients. He claims to have organized a “visit, participation and conference for Russian Government Officials to attend the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association.”
[...]
Preston’s fondness for the Russian electoral process has not gone unrequited. On his law firm’s website, Preston wrote that he has received the Russian Federation Council’s “Order of the Russian Nation for his contributions to Russian-American relations” as well as the “Nikolai Girenko Award for his contributions to Russian Civil Law.”
All the while, Preston continued to press Moscow’s case. To Think Progress, he’s proclaimed that Putin is “God-sent.” On Facebook, he’s shared propagandistic imagery showing Russian-backed paramilitary forces in the Donbass region of Ukraine. He’s also shared and liked imagery of the Confederate flag, other pro-Confederate propaganda—a different tweet referred to the Civil War as the “War for Southern Independence”—and a now-deleted video purportedly showing Obama “bashing” Jesus Christ. He liked a 2015 Facebook picture Butina posted of her and Torshin. Preston’s Art of Gettin’ Paid book features a famous quotation from Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Tennessean.
For good measure, Preston posted a picture of Putin beside a white horse receiving a snuggle from an enthusiastic dog.
The Pentagon considers this Russian Sniper Rifle a big threat to U.S. Soldiers. The NRA helped promote it.
The Pentagon considers this Russian Sniper Rifle a big threat to U.S. Soldiers. The NRA helped promote it.
By David Corn
In late 2016, the US Army released a report noting that the Russian military, through experience gained during fighting in Ukraine, was undergoing a transformation and becoming a more potent battlefield threat to American forces. One troublesome development identified by the report’s authors was the increased proficiency of Russian snipers. “The capabilities of a sniper in a…
Kline Preston said he helped head Blackburn's re-election efforts—while bringing NRA and Russian officials together.
Casey Michel at ThinkProgress:
When G. Kline Preston IV first introduced National Rifle Association (NRA) leadership to Russian officials in 2011, he’d been close to Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) for years.
Both Preston and Blackburn have a long history in and around Brentwood, the tony Nashville suburb. And as Preston — the lawyer whose relationship with both NRA leadership and sanctioned Russian officials facilitated the unexpected cooperation between the two — recently told the Tennessean, he and Blackburn have been “family friends” for a “long time.”
But as documents obtained by ThinkProgress reveal, Blackburn was far closer to Preston than has previously been reported. Preston not only listed himself as the “Campaign Finance Chairman” for Blackburn, but additionally worked for years as the president of Marsha Blackburn for Congress, Inc.
According to information now removed from his website, Preston says he served as president for Marsha Blackburn for Congress, Inc. through at least 2014, with official documents showing the work beginning in 2003. During the same time period, he also introduced Alexander Torshin, a now-sanctioned Russian official accused of mafia ties and massive money laundering in Europe, to then-NRA President David Keene. For good measure, documents filed show that Marsha Blackburn for Congress, Inc., also listed Blackburn’s husband as the registered agent, and listed Blackburn’s address as its own.
The fact that a key member of Blackburn’s campaign was also working closely with Russian officials raises new questions about designs Russian operatives may have had on recruiting allies among Republicans and social conservatives in the U.S. — as well as just how extensive this effort might have been.
Friends in low places
The relationship between Preston and Blackburn, whose campaign and congressional office did not respond to ThinkProgress’ repeated requests for comment, is well-known in certain Nashville circles.
The two “are from the same town — they’re thick as thieves,” one Nashville-based lawyer, who asked not to be named, told ThinkProgress.
Despite Preston listing his primary focus on his LinkedIn profile as “experience in business in the Russian Federation,” his professional relationship with Blackburn dates to at least 2002. That is when Preston says he began working as Blackburn’s campaign finance chairman, shortly before Blackburn was elected to Congress.
A year later, according to documents filed with the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office, Preston also picked up another gig: serving as president of Marsha Blackburn for Congress, Inc., a position the documents show he retained until 2009. The organization was founded in 2002, and is listed as a nonprofit. The registered agent for the group was listed as Charles Blackburn — Marsha’s husband. The organization also shares the same Brentwood address as Blackburn
[...]
Meetings and hosts
Preston doesn’t hide his affections for Russian President Vladimir Putin. His Twitter and Facebook feeds are drenched in material from Russian propaganda outlets, and he helped the Kremlin whitewash its recent presidential election, claiming both that he “didn’t see any complaints” and that “Crimea was, is, and will be Russian.” He’s even written a book entitled The December 4, 2011 Parliamentary Elections of the Russian Federation — The Case Against Western Media Bias and Prejudice.
[...]
Preston hasn’t limited his attempts at building bridges with Russia to trips to Moscow. Recent documents discovered by NPR show how Preston acted as hostfor Torshin, a lifetime NRA member, and Russian diplomat Igor Matveev during the 2012 U.S. presidential election.
See Also: ThinkProgress: Here’s what we know about the American lawyer tying Russia to the NRA
Trump move ‘tremendous victory for America’s gun owners’ Former National Rifle Association President David Keene says the Second Amendment dodged a major bullet when the vacant seat on the Supreme Court was filled by Justice Neil Gorsuch, but he warns the threat to gun ownership is far from over. Keene gives credit to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for refusing to advance President Obama's…
