By LISA MARIE PANE

In the aftermath of the back-to-back shooting massacres in Texas and Ohio, the debate over gun control has returned to the National Rifle Association and its immense power to stymie any significant legislation on the issue.

The man largely responsible for the NRA’s uncompromising stance is its decades-long CEO, Wayne LaPierre, who has been engulfed in turmoil and legal issues as he orchestrates the group’s latest effort to push back against gun control measures.

Law enforcement authorities are investigating the NRA’s finances, and the gun group has ousted top officials and traded lawsuits with the longtime marketing firm credited with helping to shape LaPierre’s and the NRA’s image.

LaPierre’s seven-figure salary, penchant for luxury clothing shopping sprees and reports that he sought to have the NRA buy him a $6 million mansion at an exclusive golf community have drawn considerable scrutiny amid allegations of rampant misspending.

Ardent gun rights supporters have turned on LaPierre in recent months, taking to Twitter and Facebook with the hashtags #changethenra and #savethe2a. Some are calling for his resignation and questioning how he can turn the tide against the push for more robust gun control measures after the Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, rampages, given all the scandals.

“They’ve done so much damage to their reputation that the effectiveness of any NRA statements in really swaying opinion has to be considered diminished,” said Rob Pincus, a longtime NRA member and firearms instructor who is among the leaders of a group formed to change the NRA that has called for LaPierre’s resignation. “Anything that gets said by Wayne LaPierre is going to be followed by ‘amidst turmoil over $300,000 in suits and a $6 million mansion they were going to buy him,’ and all these other allegations that are out there.”

The NRA has abided by its usual reaction after mass shootings — initially saying nothing followed by a muted response. In this case, its lead spokesman said it would not “participate in politicizing these tragedies” and remained committed to the “safe and lawful use of firearms by those exercising their Second Amendment freedoms.”

Behind the scenes, however, there’s evidence of LaPierre’s pull. The Washington Post reportedthat LaPierre warned President Donald Trump after he expressed support for a background check bill that such a move would be unpopular among Trump’s supporters, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the talks. The NRA would neither confirm nor deny the report.

LaPierre, who rarely speaks to mainstream media outlets, declined requests to be interviewed. In a written statement issued Thursday, he said none of the gun control proposals being discussed would have prevented the most recent attacks.

“Worse, they would make millions of law abiding Americans less safe and less able to defend themselves and their loved ones,” the statement said. He described many of the proposals as “soundbite solutions” that “fail to address the root of the problem, confront criminal behavior or make our communities safer.”

To learn how LaPierre accumulated such vast power in both the NRA and American politics while remaining an enigma outside the closed-off world of the gun-rights organization, The Associated Press interviewed dozens of current and former staffers and members who have worked with him.

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LaPierre’s public persona is as the hard-fisted leader of the NRA, the public face of the Second Amendment with his bombastic defense of guns, freedom and country.

Behind the scenes, however, the 69-year-old CEO’s current and former associates see a different man.

The LaPierre they know is an introvert who rarely roams the halls of NRA headquarters to interact with staffers. He’s not even considered a serious “gunner.”

In fact, LaPierre’s early career included working for Democratic lawmakers in Virginia, where he spent most of his childhood. He’s said to have been in line to work for liberal icon and then-Democratic House leader Tip O’Neill until the NRA came calling in 1977.

Pro-gun activist Jeff Knox tells a story about how his father, Neal Knox, a former top lobbyist at the NRA, brought LaPierre to a gun range outside Washington early in his NRA career. LaPierre pulled out a rusty shotgun and the elder Knox, appalled by its condition, removed the dipstick from his Cadillac and used the oil to wipe off the rust.

“Wayne was like ‘What? What’s the big deal?’” said Knox, whose father, now deceased, lost a battle with LaPierre for control of the NRA. LaPierre became the group’s CEO in 1991.

“He’s gotten some nice guns since then, but I wouldn’t call him a gun guy,” Knox said. “I think he’s a true believer, but I don’t think he quite gets it. … It’s always been business and political to him, where to Dad it was almost a religion. It was a calling.”

Richard Feldman, a former NRA lobbyist and author of “Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist,” recalls that during congressional hearings, he and other NRA lobbyists would sit together to observe the proceedings while LaPierre, carrying big yellow legal pads, would sit in the back and wave people away.

“He was really like the professor. His office was just chock-full of papers and books all over the place,” Feldman said. “He never looked like the kind of guy who would end up” CEO of the NRA.

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LaPierre went on to become a powerful leader, surviving several internal NRA political skirmishes that lately have been worthy of a “Game of Thrones” subplot.

He also successfully navigated the Washington political landscape and helped create a culture in which Republicans don’t dare touch gun-control measures, even after massacres of children.

He’s credited with working to end the decade-long ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004. More recently, the NRA spent $30 million helping to elect Trump.

Yet, it’s been a rough road since Trump’s election. It’s been more difficult rallying contributions to the NRA with a president in the White House who’s viewed as friendly toward gun rights. The NRA’s power has been questioned, especially after the 2018 midterm elections where it was outspent by gun-control groups.

Since then, the legal issues have mounted almost by the week. The group’s non-profit status has been threatened by an investigation by the attorney general in New York, where the NRA’s charter was established in the 1800s.

There are allegations that LaPierre expensed hundreds of thousands of dollars in luxury clothing purchased in Beverly Hills and that the NRA has made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to a handful of influential board members. The Washington Post reported this week that the NRA considered buying a $6 million mansion at LaPierre’s request last year before deciding against the purchase.

The NRA’s president, Oliver North, stepped down in the midst of a rancorous annual meeting last spring. More recently, Chris Cox, its top lobbyist and widely viewed as a successor to LaPierre, resigned after LaPierre accused him of being in cahoots with North in a failed attempt to oust him as CEO.

The rare airing of the group’s dirty laundry has exposed a divide within the NRA among those who believe members’ dues are being misspent to enrich a small cadre of NRA elite.

Even some board members have openly criticized the NRA. Among them is Allen West, who described the organization as a “cabal of cronyism.” After he and other critical board members were stripped of their committee assignments, West said the NRA stands for “National Retaliation Association.”

The ire has also come from hardcore gun rights supporters. Some felt betrayed when the NRA didn’t push back on Trump’s ban on bump stocks after the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. Others are unhappy that the Trump administration hasn’t translated into an easing of gun laws.

Now LaPierre and the NRA are facing new backlash from Americans outraged over the violence in El Paso and Dayton carried out by gunmen armed with AK-47 and AR-15-style rifles.

“Everyone pays attention to Wayne LaPierre as the face of the NRA, but really everything under him has been washed away,” said Adam Winkler, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law and an expert on gun rights and politics.

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Longtime watchers of the NRA say it would be a mistake to count out LaPierre, who has earned the firearms community’s trust with the successful fights against gun control he’s led for decades.

Some acknowledge the allegations of financial improprieties are a problem, but they are happy with the NRA’s legislative record under LaPierre.

“Wayne’s got a lot of equity,” said Rick Manning, a former NRA lobbyist. “When you win, people give you a lot of rope. … And he’s won.”

Tom King, a longtime NRA board member, said LaPierre deserves that loyalty. The criticisms lodged against LaPierre, he said, have been fueled by anti-gun advocates and taken out of context.

“He’s not going to give up. He’s going to fight to the bitter end. And anybody who says differently doesn’t know the man,” King said.

By ROGELIO V. SOLIS and JEFF AMY

MORTON, Miss. (AP) — U.S. immigration officials raided seven Mississippi chicken processing plants Wednesday, arresting 680 mostly Latino workers in the largest workplace sting in at least a decade.

The raids, planned months ago, happened just hours before President Donald Trump visited El Paso, Texas, the majority-Latino border city where a man linked to an online screed about a “Hispanic invasion” was charged in a shooting that left 22 people dead.

“On a day when we seek unifying words and acts to heal the nation’s broken heart, President Trump allows so many families and communities to be torn apart,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.

About 600 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents fanned out across the plants operated by five companies, surrounding the perimeters to prevent workers from fleeing.

In Morton, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of the capital of Jackson, workers filled three buses — two for men and one for women — at a Koch Foods Inc. plant.

Those arrested were taken to a military hangar to be processed for immigration violations. About 70 family, friends and residents waved goodbye and shouted, “Let them go! Let them go!” Later, two more buses arrived.

A tearful 13-year-old boy whose parents are from Guatemala waved goodbye to his mother, a Koch worker, as he stood beside his father. Some employees tried to flee on foot but were captured in the parking lot.

Workers, including Domingo Candelaria, who could show they were in the country legally were allowed to leave the plant after agents searched the trunks of their vehicles.

“It was a sad situation inside,” Candelaria said.

Mississippi is the nation’s fifth-largest chicken producing state and the plants’ tough processing jobs have mainly been filled by Latino immigrants eager to take whatever work they can get. Chicken plants dominate the economies of Morton and other small towns east of Jackson.

Based in Park Ridge, Illinois, Koch is one of the largest poultry producers in the U.S, with operations in Mississippi and five other states. The company didn’t respond to telephone calls and emails seeking comment.

Matthew Albence, ICE’s acting director, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday in Pearl, just down the road from the Koch plant, that the raids could be the largest-ever workplace operation in any single state. Asked about their coinciding with Trump’s visit to El Paso, Albence responded, “This is a long-term operation that’s been going on.” He said raids are “racially neutral” and based on evidence of illegal residency.

The companies involved could be charged with knowingly hiring workers who are in the county illegally and will be scrutinized for tax, document and wage fraud, Albence said.

Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, called the “terrible” raids “another effort to drive Latinos out of Mississippi,” and he blamed Trump for fanning racism with his past incendiary comments about immigrants.

“This is the same thing that Trump is doing at the border with the Border Patrol,” he said, referring to the increased crackdown on migrants coming into the U.S.

Major immigration raids were common under President George W. Bush, including one at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, in 2008 that resulted in about 400 arrests. President Barack Obama avoided them, limiting workplace immigration efforts to low-profile audits.

Trump resumed workplace raids, but the months of preparation and hefty resources they require make them rare. Last year, the administration targeted a landscaping company near Toledo, Ohio, and a meatpacking plant in eastern Tennessee. The former owner of the Tennessee plant was sentenced to 18 months in prison last month.

On Wednesday, a hangar at a Mississippi Air National Guard base in Flowood, adjoining the Jackson airport, was set up to process those who were detained. Employees formed seven lines, one for each workplace raided, with fingerprint scanners and document printers at each interview station.

Cooling misters blew in front of fans, and 2,000 catered meals were ordered.

Agents who arrived at the Morton plant passed a chain-link fence with a sign that said the company was hiring. Workers’ wrists were tied with plastic bands and they deposited personal belongings in clear plastic bags.

“This will affect the economy,” Maria Isabel Ayala, a child care worker for plant employees, said as the buses left. “Without them here, how will you get your chicken?”

Other companies targeted in the raids included Peco Foods Inc., which has plants in Bay Springs, Canton and Sebastopol; PH Food Inc. in Morton; MP Food Inc. in Pelahatchie and Pearl River Foods Inc. in Carthage.

“We are fully cooperating with the authorities in their investigation and are navigating a potential disruption of operations,” Peco, based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, said in a statement. The company added that it participates in E-Verify, a government program to screen new hires for immigration status.

No one answered the phone at Pearl River Foods. A woman who answered the phone at PH Food declined to comment or identify herself. A telephone listing could not be found for MP Food.

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Amy reported from Pearl, Mississippi. Associated Press reporter Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

By MATTHEW BARAKAT

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — An unconfirmed report of an armed person at the Northern Virginia office building that houses USA Today prompted an evacuation and massive police response Wednesday that found no immediate signs of violence.

Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler said at a news conference that his department got a 911 call around noon from the building saying an armed “former employee” had been seen there.

Roessler said it was not clear yet whether that report was true. A floor-by-floor search of the 11-story building was underway Wednesday afternoon and expected to last for hours, but Roessler said so far there had been no evidence of violence.

USA Today reported that alarms sounded and police squad cars converged on the scene in McLean, Virginia, as employees waited outside. Law enforcement officers with rifles and body armor patrolled the area and a helicopter hovered overhead.

Taylor Rosa, an accountant for USA Today’s owner, Gannett, said he was in his office when co-workers told him there were police with body armor on the campus. But he and others went back to work. He said his initial guess was that some sort of VIP was visiting the headquarters and had police protection. About five minutes later, they were told to evacuate.

“There were some people that definitely had panic in their faces” as they evacuated, Rosa said.

“Mostly we were just a little confused,” he said.

Rosa said he had gotten notice from his human resources department that it may be two to four hours before employees could re-enter the building, a glass structure tucked in Tysons Corner in a row of other corporate campuses.

Roessler said he couldn’t say for sure whether the person reported to be in the building was a Gannett employee. The building also houses other tenants.

Police were searching for the “person of interest,” he said.

The incident came just two days after GateHouse Media, a fast-growing chain backed by an investment firm, announced it was buying Gannett in a $1.4 billion merger of two of the largest U.S. newspaper companies.

The companies said they were committed to journalistic excellence while also cutting costs by $300 million annually. The combined company would have more than 260 daily papers in the U.S. along with more than 300 weeklies.