On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial in the government’s case against Cliven Bundy, his sons, and another militiaman. Mother Jones reports that the government has royally screwed up its case against this crew of domestic terrorists.
When the trial of the three Bundys plus Ryan Payne finally moved to opening statements in November, the government immediately ran into problems, largely of its own making.
At the heart of the case against the Bundys is a conspiracy charge alleging that the Bundys and other defendants lied about their situation when they sent out urgent national requests for militia members and other armed protesters to come to Bunkerville to face off against the BLM. The indictment alleges that the family used “deceit and deception” to recruit followers and gunmen, falsely claiming that the BLM had surrounded the Bundy ranch with snipers and that federal officers had used excessive force against Cliven’s son Dave Bundy, who was arrested a few days before the armed standoff while taking photos and protesting along a state highway.
But those claims, dismissed by the government as fiction by paranoid anti-government activists, have largely turned out to be true. And it’s taken the government nearly two years, and three trials, to admit as much in court.
The Bundy crew of armed domestic terrorists, funded by dubious private money, has been able to do what most American citizens who continuously pull out and threaten to shoot law enforcement agents don’t: get off. Remember, the Bundy crew of homestead act and private money privilege do not represent most Americans. They represent themselves and the groups of fascists that want to make money off of public lands. Sadly, our government’s history of dubious overreach, corruption, and injustice is being used to allow guilty parties to go free.
Making matters worse, Larry Wooten, a former BLM investigator who worked on the Bundy case, filed a whistleblower complaint with the Justice Department, alleging that he’d been removed from the investigation in February after he’d raised concerns about misconduct by Love. He suggested the government had failed to turn over evidence of such misconduct to defense lawyers for the Bundys. He also alleged that BLM officials were biased against the Bundys, writing that during the investigation, “at any given time, you could hear subjects of this investigation openly referred to as ‘ret*rds,’ ‘r*d-necks,’ ‘overweight woman with the big jowls,’ ‘d*uche bags,’ ‘tractor-face,’ ‘idiots,’ ‘in-br*d,’ etc., etc.” He wrote that during the ranch standoff, Love had told agents to “kick Cliven Bundy in the mouth (or teeth) and take his cattle.”
Wooten alleged that BLM officers had bragged about using excessive force during the arrest of Dave Bundy in 2014 and “grinding his face into the ground.” More significant for the prosecution, Wooten wrote that on multiple occasions, Love “specifically and purposely ignored U.S. Attorney’s Office and BLM civilian management direction and intent as well as Nevada State Official recommendations in order to command the most intrusive, oppressive, large-scale, and militaristic trespass cattle impound possible.” He added, “The investigation indicated that there was little doubt there was an improper cover-up in virtually every matter that [Love] participated in, or oversaw and that [Love] was immune from discipline and the consequences of his actions.”
I said “sadly,” and not “ironically,” because it is sad and not ironic. It’s the nature of white supremacy that the injustices visited upon many in our society are only heard when money and white privilege are involved. Calling it ironic lessens the fact that it is by design.