Center for American Progress

NRA, Russia and Trump: How ‘Dark Money’ is Poisoning American Democracy
In the News

NRA, Russia and Trump: How ‘Dark Money’ is Poisoning American Democracy

Authors Alex Tausanovitch and Diana Pilipenko urge civic leaders and politicians to work to fix the broken system of campaign finance.

As American communities continue to be victimized by gun violence—including the mass shooting yesterday, in Parkland, Florida—the National Rifle Association continues to wield immense influence over American legislators, primarily through enormous campaign contributions.

But when it comes to funding, the NRA may have finally gone too far: the FBI recently launched an investigation to determine whether a Russian central banker, and Putin ally, illegally funneled money through the organization to help the Trump campaign.

The above excerpt was originally published in CNBC. Click here to view the full article.

The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings and conclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. A full list of supporters is available here. American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible.

Authors

Alex Tausanovitch

Former Senior Fellow

Diana Pilipenko

Associate Director, Anti-Corruption and Illicit Finance

Just released!

Interactive: Mapping access to abortion by congressional district

Click here