Category Archives: Bundy Ranch

The second wave of defendants set for trial next month in the armed seizure of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge want occupation leaders Ammon Bundy and Ryan Payne to testify in their defense.

Bundy and Payne are both in custody in Nevada, scheduled to face trial themselves this spring in another federal case.

The seven defendants in the second Oregon standoff trial have proposed that Bundy and Payne be transferred to Oregon to testify sometime in March and then return to Nevada by April for their trial in the 2014 standoff with federal land management agents near Bunkerville, Nevada.

They anticipate Bundy, who testified over three days last fall and was acquitted of all charges in the refuge takeover case, would take the stand on two trial days.

PASADENA, California – Oregonians have had more than a year to follow the story of Ammon Bundy, leader of the 41-day armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in early 2016. Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy, and a group of followers seized control of the refuge, located 30 miles south of Burns, as a protest against what they considered unjust federal land policies.

The conflict, and the larger story of the Bundys and their cause, have been extensively covered by The Oregonian/Oregonlive. The case will get more national exposure with “American Patriot,” a documentary coming to PBS’ “Frontline,” on April 4.

As a second trial looms in the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, federal prosecutors are perturbed that a California man associated with a network of militia groups obtained FBI reports on its confidential sources and has written about them in an online blog.

Prosecutors on Friday asked a judge to order Gary Hunt to immediately remove all material about the confidential sources from his website and prevent him from continuing to share the sensitive information.

The presence of nine informants on the eastern Oregon refuge during the 41-day occupation last winter as well as six other informants who worked on the case for the FBI was revealed during testimony during the first trial of occupation leaders.

Hunt, according to prosecutors, apparently got hold of the FBI reports on the informants that prosecutors gave to defense attorneys as part of their sharing of discovery evidence before trial. The court ordered the reports not be shared with others. Occupation leader Ammon Bundy and six others were acquitted of conspiracy and other charges after a five-week trial that ended Oct. 27.

Rumor has it that I was visited by the FBI, yesterday, January 5, 2016. That rumor is true It was not and investigation or an interview. Instead, it was to hand me a letter from the Portland, Oregon, United States Attorney’s Office, sign by Pamela R. Holsinger, Chief, Criminal Division, on behalf of Billy J. Williams. That letter was a Cease and Desist letter.

Today, I told the FBI messenger that I had no intention of complying; that I wanted to look into my legal rights. A few hours later, I was informed by two sources that the government has filed An affidavit, and request for a court order, and a proposed order wherein they order me to remove my articles with discovery information in them, and refrain from publishing any more discovery information.

This is fast becoming a matter of the First Amendment right of the people to know what their government is doing. This same subject went before the United States Supreme Court, in 1971. That case was “New York Times Co. V. United States 403 U.S. 713”, wherein the Court, in defending the public right to know, stated:

“Our Government was launched in 1789 with the adoption of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, followed in 1791. Now, for the first time in the 182 years since the founding of the Republic, the federal courts are asked to hold that the First Amendment does not mean what it says, but rather means that the Government can halt the publication of current news of vital importance to the people of this country.”

The New York Times prevailed and the government could not restrain the Times from publishing the Pentagon Papers. The matter before us, now, is equally, or more important in that the right of the people to know how their operates in their private lives, with “spies” reporting everything that they can about what you do, with no criminal intent, to the government.

This is what the KGB did in the Soviet Union. It is what the Stasi did in East Germany. Neither country exists, now, as the police state was not compatible with people used to kings and emperors. It is absolutely unacceptable in a country of free and liberty loving people.

If exposing government spies that spy on the people is criminal, then I confess to that crime. If, however, We, the People, have a right to know what our government is doing, then the Court on Oregon is criminal.