BURNS, Ore. (KOIN) — Militia leader Ammon Bundy met with the FBI for a second straight day, but the meeting lasted only 5 minutes before Bundy walked out.
Bundy, leading the group of occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since January 2, demanded the FBI allow media into their meetings. The FBI said no.
He said the FBI is overreaching their power and instead he said he would talk with local police about the issues. Bundy then headed to Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward’s office.
On Thursday, Bundy met with the FBI. With reporters watching, he spoke on the phone, apparently with an FBI negotiator. The conversation was streamed online by another member of Bundy’s group.
Bundy said his group is “not going to escalate” the situation, and he agreed to speak with authorities again Friday.
But that meeting was very short, and he drove directly to the sheriff’s office.But he did not meet with Sheriff Ward as he was stopped at the gate because he arrived unannounced.
Bundy is upset the FBI had set up what he calls “a standing army.” The sheriff’s deputies made it clear local authorities and federal officials are working together.
Deputies and law enforcement officials refused to argue, so he left.
At 4 p.m., two ranchers from other states are expected to rescind their land-grazing agreements with the federal government in a signing ceremony at in the Malheur Refuge conference center.
On Wednesday, LaVoy Finicum, the Arizona rancher who is the de facto spokesperson for the militia occupying the Malheur refuge, said he and Cliven Bundy — Ammon’s father — are the only 2 ranchers who so far have rescinded their land-use rights to the federal government.
This signing ceremony “will double the amount of ranchers” standing up for their rights, he said.
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was established on August 18, 1908, by President Theodore Roosevelt as the Lake Malheur Reservation. Roosevelt set aside unclaimed government lands encompassed by Malheur, Mud and Harney Lakes “as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds.” The newly established “Lake Malheur Reservation” was the 19th of 51 wildlife refuges created by Roosevelt during his tenure as president. At the time, Malheur was the third refuge in Oregon and one of only six refuges west of the Mississippi.