Oliver North out as NRA president after leadership dispute

Nation Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre applauds behind the empty seat of Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North at the NRA Annual Meeting of Members in Indianapolis, Saturday, April 27, 2019. North has announced that he will not serve a second term as president of the NRA amid inner turmoil in the gun-rights group. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

North, whose one-year term ends Monday, did not show up for the meeting, and his spot on the stage was left empty, his nameplate still in its place. His statement was largely met with silence. Wayne LaPierre, whom North had tried to push out, later received two standing ovations.

It was a stunning conclusion to a battle between two conservative and Second Amendment titans — North, the retired Marine lieutenant colonel with a ramrod demeanor who was at the center of the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s, and LaPierre, who has been battle-tested in the decades since he took up the mantle of gun rights. He has fought back challenges that have arisen over the decades, seemingly emerging unscathed each time. In this latest effort, he pushed back against North, telling members of the NRA’s board of directors that North had threatened to release “damaging” information about him to them and saying it amounted to an “extortion” attemp

Source: Oliver North out as NRA president after leadership dispute

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