This week, contributing writer Jake Fogleman interviewed me about what the courtroom will look like when the New York civil trial against the NRA and its leaders reaches closing arguments.
Thanks to the support of Reload Members, I was able to cover much of the case from inside the Manhattan courtroom where it was happening. This is very important because there will be no livestream of the proceedings and the recording, if any, will not be made public until much later in the day's events. Therefore, to understand what is really going on in this case that affects the future of the nation's largest gun rights organization, which has received only modest coverage from mainstream media, we must dedicate resources to being on the ground. This is extremely important.
Jake asked me how the closing argument went. I have done my best to summarize what the NRA, its top lawyer Wayne LaPierre, and its former treasurer have presented in their defense. And how Attorney General Letitia James' office sought to rebut those arguments.
Although I tried my best to explain, my answers were long and I was unable to capture all the points. We could probably talk for a few more hours about how the case unfolded over the course of six weeks, or just the closing arguments, which lasted eight hours.
Jake also asked me to predict the outcome of the case based on everything I saw in the courtroom. I don't think it's possible to predict exactly what a jury will decide on so many issues that will have to be resolved. But I found it very difficult to imagine the NRA, LaPierre, and the rest of the teams winning overall because of the key part of the jury instructions.
After reflecting on my time at the NRA trial, I discussed my on-the-ground experience with Donald Trump's speech at the Great American Outdoor Show. The rally will be held in Pennsylvania, a key state where a rematch between President Trump and President Joe Biden seems inevitable. But it wasn't as newsworthy as I had hoped because the NRA hadn't actually announced its support for Trump.
Instead, it looked much more like a regular Trump rally. President Trump made several specific promises on gun policy, none of which were new.
The absence of supporters felt especially strange because political speeches were a new element of the event, and no other politicians were invited, including President Trump's Republican opponent Nikki Haley. The speech was staged like a rally, with the NRA repeatedly praising Trump and calling for him to become president again.
The rally, which at times encouraged audience members to shout out their shared disdain for the media in a venue that has long been a staple of Trump rallies, took an even more ominous turn after the events of January 6. It became. The crowd was lively in places, cheering and laughing at Trump's now-familiar routine. But they also noted that his stream-of-consciousness quieted down during his long leisure time, and that the venue, which started nearly full of Trump supporters, was about half-full by the time he closed an hour and 15 minutes after he arrived. It was empty.
We also interviewed Jake about what happened to the rebranding effort to ban AR-15s and other guns in New Mexico.
You can listen to the show on your favorite podcasting app or by clicking here. You can watch the video for this episode on our YouTube channel. Reload members will have access as usual on Sunday. This episode will be released on Monday.
