I’d Like To Meet Paul Manafort’s Tailor

Where there are Republican elites, there is almost certainly elaborate grift happening, but Wayne LaPierre ranks high on the Trump Index:

National Rifle Association Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre billed the group’s ad agency $39,000 for one day of shopping at a Beverly Hills clothing boutique, $18,300 for a car and driver in Europe and had the agency cover $13,800 in rent for a summer intern, according to newly revealed NRA internal documents.

The documents, posted anonymously on the internet, provide new details of the clothing, travel and other expenses totaling more than $542,000 that Ackerman McQueen Inc. alleges Mr. LaPierre billed to it.
The travel expenses allegedly include more than $200,000 in “Air Transportation” costs during a one-month period in late 2012 and early 2013, in part related to a two-week trip over Christmas to the Bahamas by Mr. LaPierre.
The additional details behind the ad agency’s claims comes as Mr. LaPierre faces internal scrutiny at the NRA over his expenses amid an extraordinary falling-out between the NRA and Ackerman McQueen.

Is this highly compensated summer employee an “intern” in the David Brooks sense? It would surely be the height of irresponsibility not to speculate!

Anyway, any money being sucked up by NRA leadership is money that’s not going to ensure that America’s children have access to as many assault rifles as possible, so I say let the bust-out continue.