NEVADA RANCHER CLIVEN BUNDY ARRESTED BY FBI IN PORTLAND

The Oregonian | Les Zaitz - FEBRUARY 11, 2016

Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who touched off one armed showdown with federal authorities and applauded another started in Oregon by his sons, was arrested late Wednesday at Portland International Airport and faces federal charges related to the 2014 standoff at his ranch.

Bundy, 74, was booked into the downtown Multnomah County jail at 10:54 p.m.

He faces a conspiracy charge to interfere with a federal officer -- the same charge lodged against two of his sons, Ammon and Ryan, for their role in the Jan. 2 takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns. He also faces weapons charges.

The Bundy Ranch Facebook page reported Cliven Bundy was surrounded by SWAT officers and detained after his arrival from Nevada.

He was arrested at 10:10 p.m., authorities said.

The Bundy patriarch had traveled to Portland with plans to go on to Burns, where four occupiers had been the remaining holdouts of the refuge occupation.

Bundy has been under federal scrutiny since his ranch standoff with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. He has not paid grazing fees on federal land and he owes the agency $1 million in unpaid fees and penalties. He and militia supporters confronted federal agents who had impounded Bundy's cattle that were found on federal property.

To avoid bloodshed, the federal agents retreated and Bundy's supporters turned loose the cattle.

Some of the key participants in that standoff helped orchestrate the wildlife refuge occupation, including Ammon and Ryan Bundy. They are both in custody in Portland.

Another key participant in the Nevada showdown was Ryan Payne, a Montana militiaman who helped organize militia snipers to take aim at federal agents in Nevada. Payne is considered the tactician behind the Oregon takeover and also has been arrested and faces a federal conspiracy charge.

The Bundy brothers and Payne said they took over the federal bird sanctuary to protest the imprisonment of two Burns area ranchers and federal land ownership. They were arrested along with several others Jan. 26 as they traveled to a meeting in a neighboring county.

Occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum was shot and killed by state police at the stop. He was carrying a loaded 9mm handgun and refused to follow police commands, the FBI said.

Cliven Bundy's arrest came as the Oregon refuge takeover seemed headed for a finish.

The last four occupiers, who have camped alone since Jan. 28 at the headquarters compound, agreed Wednesday night to surrender in the morning. They did so after FBI tactical teams infiltrated refuge buildings undetected overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday. The FBI then hemmed in the occupiers with armored vehicles and negotiated with them for five hours to reach the surrender agreement.

Ammon Bundy's lawyer, Mike Arnold, said Cliven Bundy was considering joining Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore at a news conference that had been planned Thursday morning in Portland to talk about the refuge takeover. Almost immediately after she arrived in Portland, Fiore started talking to the last occupiers by phone and left in a car for the six-hour drive to Burns to help work out their surrender.

"It's terribly unfortunate the timing of his arrest, given all the progress Assemblywoman Fiore made this evening,'' Arnold said, referring to Fiore's intervention on behalf of the holdhouts.

Arnold urged the four remaining occupiers to find some good in it. "He was arrested without incident and without violence," the lawyer said. "That should give them comfort in their decision tomorrow.''

Reporter Jim Ryan of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.

Oregon militia leader Bundy holds first talks with FBI

Published January 22, 2016 | FoxNews.com

Ammon Bundy speaks with reporter at a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, the leader of an armed group occupying the national wildlife refuge to protest federal land management policies, said Friday he and his followers are not ready to leave even though the sheriff and many locals say the group has overstayed their welcome. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The leader of an armed militia that has occupied a national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon for nearly three weeks made his first contact with an FBI negotiator Thursday.

The Oregonian reported that Ammon Bundy arrived unannounced at the Burns Municipal Airport, close to where federal officials have set up a staging area. Bundy said that the FBI had begun reaching out to the group two days earlier and claimed to have 14 messages on his phone from the negotiator, whom Bundy knows only as "Chris."

Bundy spoke to the negotiator on a borrowed cell phone as reporters watched.

"I'm a face-to-face kind of guy," Bundy told the negotiator at one point, according to the Oregonian. "You reached out to me ... I'm not sure exactly what you wanted to talk about."

Bundy asked for the release of ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven, who reported to prison earlier this month to finish five year prison sentences for arson on federal land. Bundy and his group occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 following a protest calling for the Hammonds' release

Bundy said his group is "not going to escalate" the situation, and he agreed to speak with authorities again Friday.

Bundy and the FBI made contact one day after Oregon Gov. Kate Brown expressed frustration with what she described as a lack of action by federal authorities against the group.

In a statement Thursday, the FBI acknowledged the situation has caused "tremendous disruption and hardship" for people in the community and our "response has been deliberate and measured as we seek a peaceful resolution."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Oregon Governor Calls On Feds To End Militia Occupation Standoff

Huffington Post 
01/20/2016 09:04 pm ET

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon's governor expressed anger Wednesday over federal authorities' handling of the occupation of a national wildlife refuge by an armed group and said she intends to bill the U.S. government for what the occupation is costing state taxpayers.

Gov. Kate Brown said federal officials "must move quickly to end the occupation and hold all of the wrongdoers accountable."

"The residents of Harney County have been overlooked and underserved by federal officials' response thus far. I have conveyed these very grave concerns directly to our leaders at the highest levels of our government: the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House," she said at a news conference.

Exasperated by a tense situation that has caused fear among local residents since it began Jan. 2, Brown said, "This spectacle of lawlessness must end, and until Harney County is free of it, I will not stop insisting that federal officials enforce the law."

She said the occupation has cost Oregon taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. She didn't say what those costs entailed.

"We'll be asking federal officials to reimburse the state for these costs," she said.

Federal authorities did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Brown had originally called the news conference to discuss her agenda for the upcoming legislative session, but she focused on the occupation by Ammon Bundy and his armed group of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in remote southeastern Oregon.

People living in the area strongly voiced their views at a community meeting Tuesday night in Burns, 30 miles north of the refuge. It was the most pointed demonstration yet of local residents' desire that Bundy and his group go home.

Several people at the meeting spoke directly to Ammon Bundy, who showed up with his brother Ryan and other occupiers. One woman thanked him for drawing attention to ranchers' complaints about management of federal lands but told him it's time to go home.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

"Ammon, you need to go home to your family, thank you," said Jennifer Williams.

Also at the meeting was Harney County Judge Steve Grasty, who has been at the forefront of efforts among locals to show Bundy and his followers they are not welcome.

"Mr. Bundy walked in with his crowd," Grasty told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "They came into a school, packing their firearms, and strategically spread around the room."

Grasty said Bundy — who is not from Oregon — should get the point that he and his followers need to go back to their home states and leave Harney County alone.

"It seems like he's out of touch with reality," Grasty told the AP from Burns.

Reached by the AP on Wednesday, Ryan Bundy said he did not have the impression from the Tuesday night meeting that most people wanted the occupation to end.

"There were a few dissenters, by far not the majority," Bundy said.

Federal, state and local law enforcement officers have been sent to the area but so far have avoided doing anything that might provoke a confrontation. One occupier was arrested for unauthorized use of a vehicle after driving a vehicle owned by the refuge into Burns, and a Montana man who was stopped by Oregon State Police last week for a lighting violation was arrested on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Grasty would like law enforcement to turn up the heat on Bundy and his fellow occupiers — perhaps isolate them by closing off roads leading to the refuge.

"I hope they lock it down. People shouldn't be coming and going. Maybe it's time," he said.

Bundy initially took over the refuge to protest prison terms for two local ranchers convicted of setting fires on federal lands. After the ranchers voluntarily reported to prison, Bundy has justified the occupation by saying he wants federal lands in Harney County turned over to local residents, among other demands. He has also said he is obeying a divine command.

Oregon governor blames feds for response to Bundy occupation

BY CHRISTOPHER BRENNAN NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Updated: Thursday, January 21, 2016, 7:27 AM

MOLLY J. SMITH/AP

Oregon Governor Kate Brown said that residents in her state have been "overlooked and underserved" by federal authorities' response to the occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The governor of Oregon blamed federal authorities for their handling of the weeks-long armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in her state.

“The residents of Harney County have been overlooked and underserved by federal officials’ response thus far,” Democratic Governor Kate Brown said at a news conference Wednesday.

Brown, along with local residents, has become increasingly frustrated as anti-government protesters led by rancher Ammon Bundy enter their 20th day with control over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near the east Oregon city of Burns.

In her news conference she repeated calls for the occupation to end its encampment immediately, but also took issue with national officials, who have told her not to speak about the situation to avoid escalation.

The governor said in a speech broadcast on Oregon Public Radio that her state is spending about $100,000 per week dealing with the problem, and asserted that she would ask the federal government for reimbursement.

She said, “This spectacle of lawlessness must end, and until Harney County is free of it, I will not stop insisting that federal officials enforce the law.”

RICK BOWMER/AP

Ammon Bundy (c.) and his fellow occupiers, who are protesting federal land policies and the imprisonment of two local ranchers for arson, have faced increasing calls to leave from locals.

Despite the presence of state and federal forces in the area, the occupiers have been able to come and go from the federal land and resupply.

Bundy, who is from Arizona, and his crew are protesting the imprisonment of two ranchers from the state on arson charges, as well as federal land policies.

However, even locals who agree with his political motivations voiced strong opposition to the continued occupation during a community meeting on Tuesday that the armed group’s leader attended.

With News Wire Services

cbrennan@nydailynews.com