GOP Senate candidate in Montana may have just been busted admitting to illegal collusion with NRA [View all]
This story originally appeared in The Daily Beast newsletter, Pay Dirt.
Exclusive: Audio Reveals Potentially Illegal Coordination Between NRA and Montana Senate Hopeful Matt Rosendale. The gun-rights group gave Jon Testers challenger a heads-up that it would be spending money trying to defeat the senator. Thats a no-no, watchdogs say.
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Before the National Rifle Association dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to flip a competitive, Democratic-held Senate seat, the gun-rights groups chief lobbyist apparently gave the races Republican challenger a heads-up.
Chris Cox, the top political strategist for the NRAs Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), assured Montana Republican Matt Rosendale that the group would spend heavily to support his bid to unseat Sen. Jon Tester, Rosendale told attendees at a July event in Washington.
PAY DIRT exclusively obtained audio of Rosendales remarks, which good-government groups say raise serious questions of potentially illicit coordination between Rosendale and an independent political group supporting his campaign.
I fully expect the NRA is going to come in
in August sometime, Rosendale said in response to a question about independent political spenders in the race. The Supreme Court confirmations are big. Thats what sent the NRA over the line. Because in 12, with [Republican Senate nominee Denny Rehberg] they stayed out, they stayed out of Montana. But Chris Cox told me, hes like, Were going to be in this race.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/exclusive-audio-reveals-potentially-illegal-coordination-between-nra-and-montana-senate-hopeful-matt-rosendale?ref=wrap