The National Rifle Association will not get to sit in on the deposition of its former president Oliver North when he’s hauled before state Attorney General Letitia James’ office to answer questions about how the tax-exempt gun group spends its money.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Melissa Crane said Monday the risk of damaging the investigation by allowing NRA lawyers into the deposition slated for Tuesday outweighed concerns raised by the gun group that privileged information could leak out during questioning.
“Having the NRA or its board sit in on an investigation could have a serious consequence of compromising the integrity of the investigation particularly given the seemingly acrimonious relationship between the NRA and Mr. North,” Crane said, adding she also wouldn’t grant the NRA’s request to get a copy of the transcript of the deposition before the probe concluded.
The AG’s Office wants to question North about the organization’s spending as it builds the case that the group — which is barred from political speech as a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) “social welfare organization” — participated in “unauthorized political activity and potentially false or misleading disclosures in regulatory filings.”
The spending in question includes $40 million on legal fees in just 14 months to law firm Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors, which is also representing the NRA in the AG’s case.
NRA lawyer Svetlana Eisenberg argued that North’s attorney didn’t properly redact parts of documents that will be turned over to the AG and so similar slip-ups could happen at the deposition that would let out the NRA’s privileged information, such as anything that would fall under attorney-client or work-product privilege.
“They are asking us to assume the risk of Mr. North’s counsel making a mistake,” Eisenberg argued. “It’s undisputed that Mr. North’s counsel has a conflict. He cannot both zealously represent his client and guard the NRA’s privilege.”
“There is no intent to interfere. We just want to be in the room to prevent the proverbial cat from getting out of the bag,” Eisenberg continued.
But state lawyer Monica Connell assured Eisenberg, “We are going to cut him [North] off if he tries to speak about privileged information.”
“Despite the NRA’s best efforts to silence board members, justice will prevail, and the truth will be exposed, because no one is above the law,” James said in a statement. “We are pleased with today’s decision because the NRA should never be allowed to stifle a legal investigation.”
On Friday, the judge rejected the NRA’s request for a temporary restraining order to halt the deposition.
NRA lawyers appealed Crane’s ruling later Monday, but a judge denied that appeal too. North’s deposition is slated to go forward Tuesday without NRA lawyers present, a spokesperson with the AG’s office said.