A Russian politician with links to the Kremlin is claiming that his connections to the National Rifle Association has given him access to President Trump, NPR reported Thursday.
Alexander Torshin, a former Russian senator and the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, has touted his connections to the NRA on his public, verified Twitter account, NPR reported.
In November 2015, he tweeted that he knew Trump through the NRA, citing a connection from the group’s convention. He made the claim in response to comedian Larry David accusing Trump of being racist.
“I know D. Trump (through NRA). A decent person,” he tweeted, according to NPR’s translation.
Tweets from Torshin, a lifetime NRA member, also document that he has met with every NRA president since 2012. He also tweeted that he was able to come to the U.S. as a foreign election observer in 2012 because of his NRA connections.
“I was there at Obama’s last election! The NRA card, to me as an observer from Russia, opened access to any [polling] station,” he tweeted in January 2015, according to NPR.
McClatchy reported in January that the FBI was looking into whether Torshin illegally gave money to the NRA to try to back Trump’s presidential bid.
Torshin also reportedly spoke with Donald Trump Jr. at an NRA event in May 2016, but the two did not discuss Trump’s presidential campaign. The pair spoke for a few minutes, CBS reported at the time.
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JUST IN: Putin-linked Russian politician claims he knows Trump through NRA connections: report https://t.co/8ucFaEavON pic.twitter.com/LLDfASDeB9
— The Hill (@thehill) March 2, 2018
"A prominent Kremlin-linked Russian politician has methodically cultivated ties with leaders of the National Rifle Association, and documented efforts in real time over six years to leverage those connections and gain access deeper into American politics." https://t.co/tDUnBaEYHm
— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) March 2, 2018
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