Reid and his son, Rory, along with President Obama conspired to gain the land owned by Bundy, which is adjacent to land already owned by Reid.
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Cliven was arrested in February on route to a wildlife refugee site, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon, which had been taken over by his supporters. Bundy had drawn dozens of fellow ranchers to his home in Nevada in 2014 to protest heavy fines from the Bureau of Land Management for grazing his cattle on federal land.
Rancher Cliven Bundy speaks at a news conference near Bunkerville, Nevada, April 24, 2014.
“The suit defends the comments, saying Bundy was publicly equating his family’s situation to the “‘the plight of “Negroes” in the old South, whereby they were enslaved by a tyrannical government”.
“Bundy, his sons and their believers have endangered the lives of federal officers, have defaced and damaged public lands and squandered public resources for their own benefit”, the statement said.
The complaint, which asks for Bundy’s indictment to be dismissed, alleges the defendants violated Bundy’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel and for a speedy trial, Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment, Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in self-defense, as well as his First Amendment right to assemble.
“They are domestic terrorists”, Orthman stated. However, it backed down in 2014, releasing the livestock to end a standoff with hundreds of armed protesters who came to support the rancher in the Nevada desert.
The complaint alleged the elder Reid, “acting inconcert with defendants Rory Reid and Obama, each and every one of them, jointly and severally, issued what in effect were public threats to and made false defamatory statements about Defendant Bundy and his family to further his under the table negotiated deal to seize and sell the Bundy ranch and its chattels, including any remaining cattle, for profit and/or kickbacks from the purchaser, some of whom were reported to be communist Chinese”. He claims that Harry Reid abused his power to have the Obama administration prosecute him “in order to secure the land that was being negotiated for sale”.
Although the Bundy men are locked up, the cattle are still grazing without restrictions in an area that the government and environmentalists say is critical habitat for the Mohave desert tortoise, a threatened species.
Bundy’s lawyer, Joel Hansen, told U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro in open court Tuesday that because she’s a defendant in the lawsuit, she should remove herself from Bundy’s case.
Reid however, is unamused by the lawsuit, and insists that the Bundy’s will be brought to justice.
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Bundy’s sons, Ammon and Ryan, were indicted in connection with the OR occupation and face charges in the Nevada standoff.
