It would seem it only took the federal government 2 years to come up with a one size fits all charge to hit protesters with, regarding standoffs in Oregon and at the Bundy ranch. Last night, Cliven Bundy, father of Ammon and Ryan Bundy, was arrested as his plane landed in at Portland National Airport. Bundy was enroute to the Wildlife Refuge where occupiers are waiting out an FBI siege, and expected to surrender today.
It is important to note that the FBI could have arrested Bundy at any time, over the years since the standoff at his own ranch on these charges, if they were serious about bringing him to some kind of justice. Why did they wait until he was on his way to Oregon? Additionally, the same holds true for all of the presently jailed Oregon Protestors. Each of them were peacefully moving through Burns, Oregon for weeks before they were stopped in an ambush in which Lavoy Finium was murdered.
FOX NEWS: Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, the father of the jailed militia leader whose followers have occupied a federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon for the past 40 days, was arrested by FBI agents in Portland, Ore. late Wednesday, as the remaining holdouts at the refuge indicated they would soon turn themselves in.
Bundy was arrested as he stepped off a flight from Las Vegas. The FBI declined to provide a reason or other details, saying further information would be released by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Las Vegas Thursday.
The four protesters who remain at the refuge said they would turn themselves in Thursday morning. A Nevada legislator, Michele Fiore, called the occupiers earlier in the evening to try to get the occupiers to calm down. Fiore said she could help them only if they stayed alive.
“I need you guys alive,” said the Republican member of the Nevada Assembly who was in Portland earlier in the day to show support for Cliven Bundy’s son, Ammon, who remains jailed. Fiore told occupiers Wednesday night she was driving to the refuge to try to help negotiate their exit from the refuge. The occupiers prayed with Fiore and others as the situation dragged on for hours Wednesday night.
Sean Anderson said late Wednesday he spoke with the FBI and that he and the three other holdouts would turn themselves in at a nearby FBI checkpoint at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Anderson relayed the news to Fiore.
“We’re not surrendering, we’re turning ourselves in. It’s going against everything we believe in,” he said. Evangelist Franklin Graham was also seen talking to the occupiers.
Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said in a statement the situation had reached a point where it “became necessary to take action” to ensure the safety of all involved.
Bretzing said one of the occupiers rode an ATV outside “the barricades established by the militia” at the refuge. When FBI agents tried to approach the driver, Fry said he returned to the camp at a “high rate of speed.”
The FBI placed agents at barricades ahead of and behind the occupier’s camp, Bretzing said.
“It has never been the FBI’s desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully,” he said in a statement.
Authorities had for weeks allowed the occupiers to come and go freely from the remote refuge, leading to criticism from local and state officials that law enforcement wasn’t doing enough to end the situation.
Ammon Bundy and others were arrested Jan. 26 on a remote road outside the refuge, but the four holdouts remained.
On Wednesday night Sandy Anderson said after the group was surrounded: “They’re threatening us. They’re getting closer. I pray that there’s a revolution if we die here tonight.”
Her husband, Sean Anderson, said in the livestream: “We will not fire until fired upon. We haven’t broken any laws, came here to recognize our constitutional rights.”
The occupiers said they saw snipers on a hill and a drone.
The standoff was occurring on the 40th day of the occupation protesting prison terms for two local ranchers on arson charges and federal management of public lands.
Ammon Bundy was arrested last month as he and other main figures of the occupation were traveling to the town of John Day. Four others were also arrested in that confrontation, which resulted in the shooting death of the group’s spokesman, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum. The FBI said Finicum was reaching for a gun.
Most of the occupiers fled the refuge after that. Authorities then surrounded the property and later got the holdouts added to an indictment charging 16 people with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers.
The Oregonian newspaper reported that Cliven Bundy faces charges related to the 2014 standoff between federal agents and militia members on his Nevada ranch. The charges include conspiracy to interfere with a federal officer.
The Bureau of Land Management said at the time of the 2014 standoff that Cliven Bundy owed over $1 million in fees and penalties for trespassing cattle on federal property without a permit over 20 years. Bundy refuses to acknowledge federal authority over public lands.
The standoff began after the Bureau of Land Management impounded Bundy’s cattle that were found on federal property. However, federal agents later backed down and allowed Bundy’s supporters to turn the cattle loose.