The National Rifle Association’s president Oliver North has been ousted by the organisation’s board after an alleged extortion scheme within the group’s highest-ranking officials came to light Friday (local time).
The NRA’s chief executive Wayne LaPierre wrote a letter to the board Thursday accusing North of plotting to remove him from the group by threatening to release to the board “damaging” information about LaPierre.
He claimed Oliver North, a former Marine Corps lieutenant colonel perhaps best known for his role in the Iran-contra affair, was pressuring LaPierre to resign over alleged financial transgressions.
“Delivered by a member of our Board on behalf of his employer, the exhortation was simple: resign or there will be destructive allegations made against me and the NRA,” LaPierre wrote in the letter, which was published Friday by the Wall Street Journal.
“I believe our Board and devoted members will see this for what it is: a threat meant to intimidate me and divide us,” he continued. “I choose to stand and fight, and hope to bring 5 million members with me.”
LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president who has been with the organisation for decades, said he refused to comply with the threat, adding that he was “alarmed and disgusted” by the situation.
On Saturday morning, Richard Childress, a vice president at the NRA, read a resignation letter from North announcing and explaining his departure.
“Please know I hoped to be with you today as NRA president endorsed for reelection,” North wrote. “I’m now informed that will not happen.”
North continued his resignation letter by saying he believes the NRA should establish a committee to review the organisation’s finances, which he said constitutes a “clear crisis” that “needs to be dealt with” if the NRA wants to continue to be a viable organisation.
North’s departure, and the circumstances surrounding it, has cast a public light on the apparent discord within the influential gun rights group.