Oliver North: 'Informed & # 39; I will not be renamed president of the NRA

North, a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, was chosen last year to be the president of the ANR. At the time, LaPierre – the long-standing executive of the group and his key face, "called it" hands down, the best choice to lead our NRA board of directors A figure already controversial because of the Reagan period scandal on secret arms sales to Iran, North joined the gun defense group par excellence at a critical time, responding to the renewed calls for an arms control following the shooting at school in Parkland Florida.

But on Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that LaPierre had told the NRA board that he had refused a resignation request from the North and had accused the president of the NRA of wanting to extort him from him.

According to the newspaper, North told the board that he was forming a crisis committee to review the organization's finances and told the executive committee that LaPierre had billed more than $ 200,000. from purchasing cabinets to a supplier.

The dispute between LaPierre and North originated in part from a dispute between NRA and subcontractor Ackerman McQueen Inc., an advertising agency that operates NRATV, its online media service. This culminated in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the NRA.

As part of the lawsuit, the NRA asserted that Ackerman McQueen had not justified his billing with registrations, according to the newspaper. Ackerman McQueen called the lawsuit "frivolous" and "inaccurate," the newspaper reported.

In his letter this week, LaPierre wrote that North had called his office to let him know that Ackerman McQueen Inc., unless he resigned, was prepared to publish a detrimental letter to the board of directors of the company. NRA, the newspaper reported.

"I believe that the purpose of the letter was to humiliate, to discredit our association and to reveal appearances of irregularities that harmed our members and the second amendment," wrote LaPierre. "The letter would contain a devastating account of our financial situation, charges of sexual harassment against a staff member, charges for wardrobe costs and excessive travel expenses for staff."

The quarrel between the two high-level Conservatives took place in the middle of the annual meeting of the NRA in Indianapolis. The 76 members of the NRA board were scheduled to meet on Monday.

The NRA presidency was previously a ceremonial post, but the New York Times reported that North had asked for the post to be paid.

Contributions to the NRA are lagging behind, the Times reported, and the organization faces an increasingly better-funded opposition movement as a result of several mass shootings.