A National Rifle Association leader-turned-critic is meeting with New York investigators next week, and the NRA wants to be there.a
New York's attorney general's office is questioning Oliver North on Tuesday as it probes whether the NRA broke laws governing its nonprofit status.
The powerful gun lobby asked a New York state judge Friday to let it in the meeting, saying it would be "severely prejudiced" if privileged information is divulged.
In court papers, it said it had asked the attorney general's office to be included in the meeting but was told it would be burdensome and was refused.
The NRA cited grounds why some information could be kept from investigators, including attorney client privilege, work-product rules and other unspecified privileges.
NRA lawyers said they reviewed 899 pages of documents from North's lawyers that were prepared for investigators and found several dozen examples of privileged information that had not been redacted.
In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James defended the integrity of her office.
"The NRA's scare tactics simply won't work here," the statement said. "Our investigation is proceeding with the same focus and fairness we apply to any case. Whether its deposing NRA leaders or fact finding through other investigative tools, we will ensure that justice is served because no one is above the law."
The NRA is facing several legal battles. The attorney general of Washington, D.C., has subpoenaed the group and its related charitable organization in a probe into financial misconduct allegations. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee also has launched an investigation into the NRA's operations.
North was forced out as the NRA's president in the spring just ahead of the group's annual meeting.
The NRA later sued North, trying to block his effort to be reimbursed for legal expenses related to investigations and lawsuits involving the NRA.
North — better known for being accused of obstructing Congress during an investigation of the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s but whose convictions were later reversed — has accused the NRA's top lawyer and its chief executive officer of thwarting efforts to independently review the NRA's expenses and operations.
NRA critics have questioned the group's spending, citing hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by its CEO on clothing and private jet travel and tens of millions of dollars spent over decades with an Oklahoma-based marketing firm behind some of its most powerful messages. It has since ended that relationship and the marketing firm and NRA have sued each other.
The NRA is chartered out of New York, while the NRA Foundation is chartered out of Washington.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.
The Houthis said they shot down the Reaper with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.
The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province.
Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.
Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.
Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.
The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.
A Houthi supporter raises a mock rocket during a rally against the U.S. and Israel and to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
