Rancher Cliven Bundy and his sons are to be charged over the headline-grabbing 2014 standoff in Nevada where militiamen pointed guns at cops and forced them into a humiliating public retreat.
They were already charged in connection to the recent Oregon Wildlife Refuge takeover marshaled by the son, Ammon Bundy, which ended after a monthlong siege and the death of one of the occupiers.
The indictment stems from what federal officials have described as the “massive armed assault” by Cliven Bundy and his co-defendants against federal law enforcement officers who tried to corral about 400 cattle near the Bundy Ranch.They’re accused of planning, organizing and leading the 2014 assault and recruiting hundreds of others in an armed force to thwart the seizure and removal of Cliven Bundy’s cattle from public lands. It accuses the elder Bundy of trespassing on the public lands for more than 20 years, refusing to get the legally required permits or pay the required fees to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to keep and graze his cattle on the land.
The charges include conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, threatening a federal officer, obstructing justice, and extortion.