WASHINGTON — A new lawsuit alleges that Senator Ron Johnson and six other diehard Trump Republican senators, as well as Trump himself, accepted illegal re-election campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association. The suit was filed by a gun control advocacy group founded by Gabby Giffords, the former Arizona member of Congress who was shot and seriously wounded in 2012 assassination attempt.  The suit alleges that the NRA spent $35 million since 2014 to support political campaigns of:

> Donald Trump, for president in 2016.

> Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, in 2016.

> Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, in 2018.

> Matt Rosendale, R-Montana, in 2018

> Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, in 2014.

> Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, in 2014.

> Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, in 2014.

The suit says the National Rifle Association used shell companies to funnel contributions illegally to the candidates. The goal, according to the suit, was to evade campaign finance regulations through shell corporations to coordinate advertising surreptitiously The shell companies were identified as:

> America Political Victory Fund.

> America Institute for Legislative Action.

Johnson. Senator now will need to defend himself in federal court about campaign donations.

Allegation: How money flowed

The suit makes specific allegations on how NRA money was channeled in one case to Senator Josh Hawley: The political consulting firm OnMessage Inc., which Hawley has used throughout his political career, operated a company called Starboard Strategic, which the NRA used to create ads in support of Hawley’s campaign. That would mean that the same company — and consultants — were placing political ads for both the candidate and the NRA, which would be an illegal under campaign finance laws. How much to Hawley in all? $973,411 got Hawley, the suit says.

Major Johnson 2016 donors

As self-reported to the Federal Election Commission:

> Club for Growth, $525,000.

> Northwestern Mutual Life, $77,000.

> ABC Supply, $66,000.

> NorPac, $54,000.

> Foley & Lardner, $48,000.

> Oshkosh Corp., $50,000.

> National Republican Senatorial Committee, $46,000.

> Judiciary Management, $43,000.

> Belmark Inc., $41,00.

> Jennmar Corp., $36,000.

.> AegisPAC, $36,000.

>  Robert W. Baird & Co. , $34,000.

> Michels Corp. , $32,000.

> Wausau Homes, $32,000.

> Kwik Trip, $31,000.

> Aurora Health, $30,000.

> Alta Resources, $30,000

> Elliot Management, $30,000.

> Stephens Inc., $28,000.