Rancher Cliven Bundy Sues President Obama, Harry Reid Over 'Cruel' Treatment
By Erik Ortiz
Jailed
cattle rancher Cliven Bundy claims President Barack Obama, Nevada Sen.
Harry Reid and others have stifled his constitutional rights as he sits
in solitary confinement on charges stemming from a 2014 federal
standoff, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Bundy,
70, is seeking $50 million for the "illegal, unconstitutional,
intentional and malicious acts" of the defendants, and wants an
indictment against him quashed and his immediate release from jail in
Portland, Oregon.
Bundy
added that he's been in solitary since his arrest earlier this year —
which constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment," claims the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Nevada.
Bundy
also wants federal Judge Gloria Navarro, named as another defendant,
removed from the criminal case and for politically conservative attorney
Larry Klayman to help defend him in Nevada.
The
cowboy hat-wearing Bundy became a national figure — and hero in some
conservative corners — when he led an armed confrontation against
federal rangers over a land dispute in his home state of Nevada. The
father of 14 — along with his posse of supporters — clashed with the
rangers who tried to execute a court order to confiscate 500 of his
cattle after they were illegally grazing on public land and he failed to
pay $1 million in grazing fees.
Bundy, who has pleaded not guilty, was indicted for inciting the standoff, along with two of his sons and two others.
The
complaint lays out a conspiracy against Bundy perpetrated by Obama,
Reid, Navarro and Reid's son, Rory Reid, who unsuccessfully ran for
Nevada governor in 2010.
APRIL 13, 2014: ‘Get off our land’: Feds end roundup of rancher’s grazing cattle
April 13, 201402:37
She is also described as a "Latino activist."
Bundy
alleges Reid used "the equivalent of federal storm-troopers" against
Bundy’s "peaceful cowboys," and that Reid wanted Bundy gone so that he
could seize his land and then sell it to the Chinese.
In the suit, Bundy also takes issue with Obama, who had alluded to the rancher in jokes that he made during the White House Correspondents' Dinner in May 2014.
Amid
the standoff, Bundy drew condemnation for referring to blacks as "the
Negro" in a New York Times article and suggesting that they were
"happier" under slavery than under current federal subsidy programs.
The complaint says that Obama was "threatening, mocking and disparaging" Bundy just "days after (his) successful standoff."
During
his correspondents' dinner monologue, Obama said: "Michelle and I
watched the Olympics — we cannot believe what these folks do —
death-defying feats — haven’t seen somebody pull a '180' like that fast
since Rand Paul disinvited that Nevada rancher from this dinner."
"As
a general rule, things don’t end well if the sentence starts, 'Let me
tell you something I know about the negro,'" Obama continued. "You don’t
really need to hear the rest of it. Just a tip for you — don’t start
your sentence that way."
Highlights from the Correspondents’ Dinner
May 4, 201402:03
"Bundy, his sons and their
believers have endangered the lives of federal officers, have defaced
and damaged public lands and squandered public resources for their own
benefit. They are domestic terrorists," said Reid spokeswoman Kristen
Orthman, offering a term the Democratic senator himself has used
publicly. "They are deadly and dangerous and will be brought to
justice."
The rancher was arrested in February after flying from Nevada to Portland to join his sons, who were jailed for their role leading an armed occupation at a federal wildlife reserve in Oregon.
Sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy have pleaded not guilty and face conspiracy charges
along with 14 others stemming from the 41-day occupation that began
Jan. 2. One armed protester was killed when federal agents stopped a
caravan of the occupiers during a traffic stop.
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