Giffords Sues the National Rifle Association for Violating Campaign Finance Laws
The lawsuit alleges the NRA illegally coordinated expenditures with several federal candidates, funneling about $35 million in illegal campaign contributions to Senate and presidential races.
NOVEMBER 2, 2021

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Giffords filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against the NRA for violations of campaign finance laws dating back to 2014. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Giffords by Campaign Legal Center Action, alleges that the NRA engaged in a broad pattern of activity that violated the Federal Election Campaign Act. Since 2014, the NRA has made as much as $35 million in unlawful, excessive, and unreported in-kind campaign contributions to seven federal candidates, including candidates for US Senate in 2014, 2016, and 2018, and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

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Giffords filed a series of complaints in 2018 to alert the Federal Election Commission that the NRA was engaged in an unlawful scheme that violated federal election law. When the FEC did nothing, Giffords, represented by Campaign Legal Center Action, took the Commission to court. On September 30, the US District Court in Washington issued an order compelling the FEC to act on the complaints within 30 days. The FEC once again failed to do its job, and after 30 days elapsed, the Court ruled that Giffords could sue the NRA directly for violations of federal campaign finance law.

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The lawsuit seeks several forms of relief, including an order preventing the NRA from violating the law in future elections, and a penalty equal to the amount of money unlawfully spent, which the NRA would pay to the US treasury—potentially as much as $35 million. [….]

The races at the heart of the lawsuit include the following….

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2018: Josh Hawley in the race for Senate in Missouri (vs. Claire McCaskill)…

The lawsuit:

Giffords-v.-NRA-Complaint-filed110221 [pdf]

Just short of a million.