MESQUITE, NV – APRIL 11: Rancher Cliven Bundy poses for a photo outside his ranch house on April 11, 2014 west of Mesquite, Nevada. Bureau of Land Management officials are rounding up Cliven Bundy’s cattle, he has been locked in a dispute with the BLM for a couple of decades over grazing rights. (Photo: George Frey/Getty Images
Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was arrested by FBI agents in Portland, Oregon late Wednesday, as he stepped off a flight from Las Vegas. 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 booked in to the Multnomah County Detention Center shortly before 11 p.m. local time, the sheriff’s office confirmed.
The FBI declined to provide a reason or other details, only offering that more information would be released by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Las Vegas Thursday. However, a source told PPD that he was being held on charges dating back to the 2014 standoff between federal agents and militia members on his Nevada ranch. yet only being arrested now.
The charges will include conspiracy to interfere with a federal officer, the same charge lodged against two of Bundy’s sons, Ammon and Ryan, for their role in the ongoing standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
The four protesters who remain at the refuge reportedly said they would surrender Thursday morning, but tapes leaked to the media revealed them telling the FBI they are trying to “murder innocent” people and that the only way they were leaving was “without charges” or dead.
Mike Arnold, Ammon Bundy’s lawyer told The Oregonian that Cliven Bundy was considering joining a news conference held by Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore to discuss the ongoing occupation.
