April 18, 2024 – Reload editor and CNN contributor Stephen Gutowski today reported on the consent agreement between Brewer client the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), the NRA Foundation, and the District of Columbia Attorney General (DCAG).
According to the report, per terms of the consent order, the NRA Foundation will "adopt a conflict-of-interest policy, a board and officer compliance training program, and new standards for lending money or doing business with other NRA entities. It also agreed to limit loans to the NRA’s other operations to only charitable purposes in line with the group’s educational mission. However, it admitted no wrongdoing and avoided the more severe sanctions the AG initially sought to impose."
Gutowski wrote that the NRA disputes claims made by DCAG Brian Schwalb after the order was signed and "demanded he retract them in a letter to his office that was obtained by The Reload. It noted the lawsuit initially asked the court to appoint an overseer for the Foundation, a condition not included in the deal, and the Foundation didn’t admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement. It also asserted the NRA had agreed to pay back the Foundation for an outstanding loan before DC filed its lawsuit."
“The DCAG’ spins’ today’s settlement in avoidance of the facts: the DCAG long ago abandoned any claims of wrongdoing against the NRA,” William Brewer, the NRA’s outside counsel, said in a statement. “Even by DC standards, this is rank political gamesmanship – an after-the-fact justification for a failed lawsuit by these officials.”