“You wait it out and you dress down”.
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Keeping a low profile doesn’t mean nothing is happening behind the scenes. Several people have been arrested during the standoff, and one protester was shot during a confrontation with police several miles from the refuge. But some experts said the FBI’s strategy of letting the tensions die down before moving in ensured there would be no bloodshed. In the ’90s, he learned the value of finding intermediaries who were sympathetic to the people on the other side of the standoff, such as Bo Gritz, who became a mediator at Ruby Ridge.
“We’re talking about a bunch of cowboys camping in the middle of nowhere, ” she said. Graham is the son of evangelist Billy Graham.
Greg Bretzing, the special agent in charge of the Portland FBI, said investigators have begun their sweep of the property.
Federal authorities said the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern OR would remain closed for several weeks, as agents secured what was now considered a crime scene and scoured it for fugitives OR explosives. The two were convicted three years ago and served time – the father three months, the son one year.
The occupiers attempted to tap into frustration, particularly in Harney County, among people who make a living off federal public land they see as being shut down as more emphasis is placed on landscapes that have value as functioning ecosystems and as places to hike, fish and recreate.
The FBI also sometimes uses techniques that are more cloak-and-dagger.
In the days ahead, as extremists seethe over the death of Finicum and as some conservative activists lionize the refuge occupants, the government needs to keep a watchful eye for violent anti-federal activities, Ruch said.
The standoff at a remote federal wildlife refuge that pitted armed militants against law-enforcement officials began its next chapter in a federal courtroom here on Friday, a day after the final occupiers of the refuge surrendered. According to charging documents, Bundy’s alleged crimes occurred in 2014 when he organized an armed standoff against federal authorities who were ordered to impound his cattle. Nearly everyone in the convoy was arrested and sent to jail in Portland, but McConnell was set free.
In one of those same videos, McConnell acknowledged the suspicions swirling around him on the Internet.
Fry said, “I’m walking toward them (FBI agents) right now” during the call. Authorities said he was trying to draw a gun. The bill that most Nevada Republicans opposed as “blatantly unconstitutional” required the federal government to request permission to use its own land in Nevada, even though the bill prohibited the federal government from using or accessing its own land in Nevada.
“We may actually get our community back”, said Jen Hoke, a resident.
But Abbey and others have praised DOJ for its patience and restraint during the Malheur occupation in the face of intense pressure from local elected officials including Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) to take a more aggressive posture. “He was very bold and kind of a demanding sort of person and tried to manipulate things”. They will keep coming deep into May – fresh wing beats descending unarmed and unintimidated. The Malheur occupation calls to mind an 81-day standoff perpetrated by the Montana Freemen in 1996, which also ended peacefully. “And the Oathkeepers? They’re all infiltrated with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents!”
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The protesters told authorities they left behind booby traps but did not say whether the trip wires and other devices would trigger explosions, a law enforcement official told Reuters. “It’s going to require increased law enforcement vigilance, because the next round will involve violence”. Jason Holm, assistant regional director for the agency in Portland put out a statement Thursday about the end of the occupation.
