Cliven Bundy Indicted by Federal Grand Jury for 2014 Standoff

Bundy – along with his sons Ryan Bundy, 43, and Ammon Bundy, 40; 32-year-old Ryan Payne and 50-year-old Peter Santilli, Jr. – face a litany of charges, including: conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, obstruction of justice, and using and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.

In a statement following his arrest, Ammon Bundy said it was in fact the federal government that was breaking the law as defined in the U.S. Constitution – and those who stood up to the federal government were thrown in prison.

Cliven Bundy has long refused to pay fees to the government to allow his cattle to graze on federally controlled public lands by his ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada. Bundy, 69, began his protest against the Bureau of Land Management amid a host of other ranchers angry about grazing fees and land restrictions.

Perhaps you are thinking that’s a fair comeuppance for encouraging, organizing, and leading an armed insurrection, occupying federal lands, and repeatedly threatening to kill federal agents, which is precisely what the brothers Bundy were doing at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters in Burns Oregon for the last month.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven W. Myhre called Bundy a “lawless and violent man” who threatened the lives of the federal agents during a 2014 confrontation at Bundy’s ranch. “His cattle grazing on public land is a completely different matter”, Grefenson said.

The government is now questioning Bundy’s ranching skills.

While critics of Bundy have questioned the Justice Department for waiting almost two years to take action against him, yesterday’s memo suggests the government’s investigation has been exhaustive.

The indictment states that the charges result from a massive armed assault against federal law enforcement officers that occurred in and around Bunkerville, Nev., on April 12, 2014.

The indictment released on Wednesday said Cliven Bundy was the leader of the movement to extort the federal government into returning his cattle. Once they arrived, Bundy’s “conspirators” grouped them into camps, armed patrols and security checkpoints, the memo says.

Wednesday’s indictment identifies Cliven Bundy as the “leader, organizer, and chief beneficiary of the conspiracy”, and states that he “possessed ultimate authority” over the 2014 standoff. “He has pledged to do so again in the future to keep federal law enforcement officers from enforcing the law against him”. “He does not vaccinate or treat his cattle for disease; does not employ cowboys to control and herd them; does not manage or control breeding; has no knowledge of where all the cattle are located at any given time; rarely brands them before he captures them; and has to bait them into traps in order to gather them”. “The nation’s public lands belong to all Americans”. The federal indictment comes about a week after the collapse of the Malheur armed takeover.

Ryan Payne, who participated in the OR wildlife occupation, and Peter Santilli were also charged, authorities say.

All five are now being held without bail at the Multnomah County Detention Center in Portland, according to jail records.