MANHATTAN (CN) — The National Rifle Association’s longtime frontman Wayne LaPierre claimed Tuesday that his role as chief executive came with a number of security risks, which forced him to take extra NRA-funded precautions like private flights and car services.
“I think the first time we understood there was a threat level was back during the Unabomber,” LaPierre said. “The FBI briefed us that we were a target. They advised me to register for hotels under a different name.”
LaPierre took the witness stand for his defense case Tuesday morning, where he tried to justify some of his scrutinized personal spending while at the NRA’s helm. New York Attorney General Letitia James claims that LaPierre siphoned millions of dollars from the NRA to fund luxury trips, private flights and other purchases.
But LaPierre claimed that much of these purchases were actually for the betterment of the organization, or in direct response to security risks. He told the jury that his personal image vastly grew while leading the NRA, which made him a prime target for threats from the public.
“As the issue got more controversial, I gave up my anonymity,” LaPierre said. “People recognized me everywhere.”
Under questioning from his lawyer Kent Correll, LaPierre walked the court through his childhood in Schenectady, New York, where he would unload banana boats at the Port of Albany to scrape cash together over summers. It wasn’t cushy work, LaPierre said.
“You’d be down in the hull of the ship lifting pallets,” he added.
After college, LaPierre got into lobbying, where his political stock began to rise. He joined the NRA’s lobbying team in 1978, eventually serving as the head of the group’s lobbying arm until he was promoted to NRA chief executive in 1991.
Throughout his testimony, LaPierre claimed that he never wanted to be the group’s frontman — he was more comfortable in a lobbying role.
“It really wasn’t my background,” LaPierre said of the CEO position. “It really wasn’t what I loved doing, to tell you the truth.”
When he took the job, LaPierre became the national face of gun rights. He told the jury that he “changed the job description” to make it more geared towards public relations and activism, an ode to his lobbying background.
“I felt that if we were gonna be successful in growing the organization, I needed to be out there in front of America,” LaPierre said. “I needed to be out there giving speeches all over the country, I needed to be out there speaking to donors … I always felt that the way the NRA would lose would be if it fell to the fringe.”
LaPierre told the court of his friendships with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris, as well as his TV appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and other high-profile programs. All of this raised the NRA’s profile, LaPierre said, but also opened himself up to security concerns.
Earlier in the trial, LaPierre’s lawyer claimed that he was told he “must fly private” as a result of these worries. The attorney general’s office accuses LaPierre of spending more than $11 million of NRA funds on flights and luxury travel.
Other witnesses have since doubted the necessity of LaPierre’s private travel, and even LaPierre himself said that billing the NRA for the trips was “not the right thing to do.”
Still, the crux of LaPierre’s Tuesday testimony was that this spending was necessary for both his safety and the NRA’s mission. He claimed a trip to Italy was to meet with the Beretta firearm family, while a trip to Hungary was to discuss an exhibit exchange with a Budapest gun museum.
LaPierre will return to the witness stand on Wednesday to complete his defense testimony. Similar to his first time on the stand last month, his testimony will be fragmented to accommodate the 74-year-old’s health concerns.
With closing arguments are slated for Thursday, the six-week trial is coming to an end. Afterwards, a jury will decide on the corruption claims against LaPierre, the NRA and two of its longtime executives.
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