Oliver North out as NRA president after leadership dispute

INDIANAPOLIS — Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North announced Saturday that he won’t serve a second term as president of the National Rifle Association after he lost the support of the gun-rights group’s leadership. North’s announcement came after his failed attempt[1] to force out NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre, who has been the public face of the group for decades. In a statement read to NRA members at the group’s annual convention, North made it clear he was pushed out by the NRA’s board of directors. “Please know I hoped to be with you today as NRA president endorsed for reelection. I’m now informed that will not happen,” North said in his statement, which was read by Richard Childress, the NRA’s first vice president. North, who is nearing the end of his first one-year term, did not show up for the meeting, and his spot on the stage was left empty, with his nameplate still in its place. The announcement came after LaPierre sent a letter to board members Thursday saying that North was trying to push him out by threatening to release “damaging” information about him to the board. Taking the stage later Saturday, LaPierre got two standing ovations from the crowd of more than 1,000 NRA members before giving a scheduled speech in which he did not mention his feud with North, the Marine at the center of the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s. Their dispute erupted after the NRA filed a lawsuit[2] against Ackerman McQueen, the Oklahoma-based public relations firm that has earned tens of millions of dollars in the decades since it began shaping the gun lobby’s fierce talking points. The NRA’s lawsuit accuses Ackerman McQueen of refusing to hand over financial records to account for its billings. In 2017 alone, the NRA paid the firm $40 million. North has a $1

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