As President Trump names U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton his next national security advisor, NPR uncovers a 2013 video Bolton recorded for The Right to Bear Arms, a Russian gun rights group with close ties to the National Rifle Association and a connection to Vladimir Putin.
The episode, which has not been previously reported, illustrates the common cause that Russian and American gun rights groups were forming in the years leading up to the 2016 election through former National Rifle Association president David Keene. Keene appointed Bolton to the NRA's international affairs subcommittee in 2011.
Russian politician Alexander Torshin helped establish The Right to Bear Arms and cultivate ties with American gun rights groups including the NRA. As a Putin ally, Torshin served as the deputy speaker of Russia's parliament for more than a decade, and also spent time on Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee, a state body that includes the director of Russia's internal security service.
The Bolton video appears to be another plank in a bridge built by Russia to conservative political organizations inside the United States. It's unclear why Russian leaders wanted to curry favor with the NRA, but Torshin and Keene appeared to have developed close ties over in the years prior to the 2016 election.
It's a relationship that has outsized importance now that the FBI is reportedly investigating whether Torshin illegally funneled money to the NRA to assist the Trump campaign in 2016, as McClatchy reported in January. The NRA has denied wrongdoing.
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Related: Trump's Russia Connection May Run Through NRA
Torshin's Ties to NRA and Trump
John Bolton's Curious Appearance in a Russian Gun Rights Video (NPR)