Defense attorneys for the National Rifle Association and its former and current executives, including former CEO Wayne LaPierre, urged jurors Thursday to scrutinize the civil corruption case against them, claiming the trial was brought on by a campaign pledge to destroy the gun rights group.
During closing arguments, LaPierre’s attorney, P. Kent Correll, said New York Attorney General Letitia James set out years ago to dissolve the NRA and sued LaPierre as part of that goal.
He mentioned remarks James made years ago, when she was a candidate for attorney general, suggesting the NRA was akin to a “terrorist organization” and saying she would open an investigation if she was elected.
“She wanted to decapitate the organization, and that was for political reasons,” Correll said.
James filed her lawsuit in 2020, alleging that LaPierre, 74, drew millions of dollars away from the NRA on luxuries for himself, while other executives flouted nonprofit laws and internal policies to enrich themselves.
Calling the case perhaps the “most important” currently unfolding in the nation, Correll called out James’ absence in the courtroom on Thursday and throughout the six-week trial.
“Where is Letitia James? I don’t see her,” he told jurors. “If this case was so important to her, she would be here.”
NBC News reached out to the attorney general’s office for comment.
James’ attorneys have spent the last few weeks in a New York City courtroom painting the NRA as “Wayne’s World,” which they said was full of free private jets, expensive meals, travel consultants, private security and trips to the Bahamas for him and his family.
The other defendants are the NRA itself, John Frazer, its corporate secretary and general counsel, and Wilson “Woody” Phillips, its former NRA treasurer and chief financial officer. They are accused of breaching their fiduciary duties and failing to take action against LaPierre, ultimately helping their then-boss maintain his power.
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