“The rule of law has been reaffirmed with these charges”, U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said in a statement.
Advertisement
Bundy flew to OR last week with the reported intent of supporting his sons, who last month seized a remote federal property near the town of Burns.
He’s been charged with six counts, including assault on federal law enforcement officials, interference with commerce by extortion and obstruction of justice.
Ammon Bundy’s lawyer, Mike Arnold, told The Oregonian Wednesday evening he had anticipated the indictments but declined comment on the specific charges, saying he hadn’t yet read them.
Bundy was scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing in U.S. District Court Friday in Portland. “He does not recognize federal courts – claiming they are illegitimate – does not recognize federal law, refuses to obey federal court orders, has already used force and violence against federal law enforcement officers while they were enforcing federal court orders, almost causing catastrophic loss of life or injury to others”, federal prosecutors said in court papers filed Tuesday. It contains a long list of alleged threats Bundy, his family and his followers made to federal agents and members of the public. Payne, 32, allegedly recruited others and played a lead role in an armed assault, the government said.
Bundy’s armed posse was organized and trained, the memo alleges. Once they arrived, Bundy’s “conspirators” grouped them into camps, armed patrols and security checkpoints, the memo says.
“There is no evidence to suggest that Bundy can not quickly muster his gunmen again if any law enforcement action is taken against him”, prosecutors wrote.
Bundy and the others are being held without bail in Oregon.
The five men, who face an array of felony charges, were described as the leaders of the “massive armed assault” against federal officers outside the Bundy ranch near Bunkervile on April 12, 2014.
The government is now questioning Bundy’s ranching skills.
John Locher/AP He faces charges linked to his Nevada protest where his son, future OR militia leader Ammon Bundy, was stunned with a police TASER.
During the height of the nationally watched standoff, the BLM and National Park Service rangers were outnumbered 4-to-1 by Bundy and some 270 supporters, and rangers were threatened by snipers perched high above them on bridges.
The Bureau of Land Management, which had failed to act to halt the illegal grazing all those years, finally started a roundup of the cattle that were being grazed illegally.
Salem-based attorney Noel Grefenson, who is representing Cliven Bundy in OR, said via text message Wednesday night that he hadn’t yet seen the indictment.
The memo calls into question Cliven Bundy’s qualifications as a cattle grazer. He said he and his followers were demonstrating against the return to prison of Harney County ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steve Hammond, and the federal government’s control of public land. “The nation’s public lands belong to all Americans”.
Advertisement
More than 300 million acres of land in 13 Western states is public land managed by the federal government.
