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Portland, Ore. • Ammon Bundy and his followers made ample use of social media and videos to summon armed recruits to join their takeover of a wildlife refuge and to declare their readiness to stand their ground. Now federal authorities are using the occupiers' own words against them.
Two criminal complaints unsealed this week against the 11 protesters under arrest show that FBI agents have carefully scrutinized social media postings, interviews and online talk shows that were broadcast from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge during the standoff that began nearly a month ago.
Bundy and several other jailed leaders appeared Friday in federal court in Portland, where a judge denied their release. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman said Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and Ryan Payne pose a danger to the community and she is concerned they will not follow orders to return to Oregon for criminal proceedings.
Beckerman said she would release them only if the standoff ends. Four holdouts continued to occupy the refuge in the snowy high country near Burns, and they posted a YouTube video Friday demanding pardons for everyone involved in the occupation.
A speaker believed to be David Fry said he asked the FBI whether it was possible to "get out of here without charges," but "they keep saying that's not possible."
Ammon Bundy's lawyer, Lissa Casey, said her client is not aligned with those remaining at the refuge and wants to go back to his family in Idaho.
"He is done in Harney County; his message has been sent," she said.
Casey said Bundy didn't recognize Fry's name and that he was not a core member of the group. Hearings continued for others who were apprehended, and the Bundys will be back in court next week.
The ranchers took over the refuge Jan. 2 to demand that the federal government turn public lands over to local control.
They have complained about what they say are onerous federal rules governing grazing and mining rights across the West.