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Oops! These prominent conservatives mocked reports about NRA’s ties to Russia

After the indictment of Maria Butina, these right-wing hot takes aren't aging well.

President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting on May 4, 2018. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting on May 4, 2018. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Maria Butina on Monday, alleging that the Russian national and her handlers used the National Rifle Association (NRA) to help “advance the interests of the Russian Federation.”

There have been reports about the NRA’s unusual ties to Russians for many years. Several Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaints have pressured the commission to look into links between the NRA and Russian officials.

Nonetheless, numerous prominent conservatives mocked the connections as a conspiracy — before falling silent following Monday’s indictment.

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Dana Loesch

The NRA spokeswoman said her employer’s ties to Russia were a phony excuse created by Democrats to deflect blame for losing the 2016 election:

Dan Bongino

The NRATV host was asked about Butina in a May tweet and responded by calling the allegations a “fairytale”:

Mollie Hemingway

The Federalist’s senior editor mocked the notion of the NRA’s involvement with Russia as recently as Saturday, two days before the indictment of Butina was revealed.

Joel Pollak

Breitbart’s senior editor-at-large wrote a March column entitled “Blue State Blues: Everyone They Don’t Like is a Russian Agent” in which he called the connections between Russia and the NRA “laughable”:

“This attempt to turn the NRA into another cog in the Russian conspiracy is laughable, but the mainstream media apparently still find it deeply compelling.”

Chuck Ross

The Daily Caller reporter questioned reports regarding Russia’s infiltration of the NRA in numerous tweets:

Katie Pavlich

The Townhall editor and Fox News contributor wrote a 2014 column in which she claimed Butina was just a woman “working with the NRA and fighting for gun rights in Russia”:

“I had to opportunity to sit down with Maria to talk about why she was there and to discuss her goals for the gun rights movement in Russia. She’s working on everything from castle doctrine, gun safety programs for kids and shifting public opinion in a pro-gun direction.”

David Harsanyi

The Federalist writer compared the “conspiracy theory” about NRA ties to Russia to “9/11 truthers” in an April column called “NPR’s NRA-Russia Collusion Story is a Joke“:

“There’s been a working theory among liberals for some time now that the NRA may have conspired with Vladimir Putin to funnel money to help elect Donald Trump. (Who hasn’t, right?) This particular story, which pulls together some of the most terrifying boogeymen of our era — the nihilistic gun radical, the seditious president and the mind-controlling PAC — has been a particular favorite of the august National Public Radio.”

Butina allegedly tried to meet with several influential Republicans right before the 2016 election.