Will Trump Pardon Cliven Bundy? â Mother Jones
And now that  President Donald Trump  has pardoned Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio  infamous for his extreme use of profiling to target undocumented immigrants  Bundyâs supporters see an opportunity for him as well. Bundy has been in jail since February 2016 and is set to stand trial on October 10 for his role in the ranch standoff  along with his sons Ryan and Ammon and four other defendants.
 Longtime Trump  confidant Roger Stone has been leading the charge for a pardon  as he did for Arpaio. In July  Stone was the featured attraction at a Las Vegas fundraiser for the Bundy defendants. He gave a speech calling on  Trump  to âreview this case in the name of justice  in the name of mercyâ and âpardon every member of the Bundy family.â Following the roadmap he used for Arpaio  heâs also raised the issue on the conspiracy-theory website InfoWars  and he repeated the pardon calls last month in another visit to Las Vegas.
Itâs unclear how receptive  Trump  might be to the idea of a Bundy pardon.  Trump  was lukewarm on Bundy in 2014  when the ranch standoff was in the news.  He  told Fox Newsâ Sean Hannity at the time  âI like him  I like his spirit  his spunk and the people that are so loyalâ¦I respect him.â But he expressed uneasiness with Bundyâs taking the law into his own hands and suggested that he âcut a dealâ with the Obama administration to settle the cattle debate.
Now that  Trump  is president  he may have other ideas. Like his pardon of Arpaio  pardoning Bundy might play well with his base  particularly the white nationalists who arenât bothered byâor even admireâBundyâs 2014 comments that âthe Negroâ might have been better off under slavery. Most of the mainstream politicians whoâd initially supported Bundyâs cause quickly dropped him after video of his diatribe surfaced. Even Hannity dropped Bundyâs cause.
âI like him  I like his spirit  his spunk and the people that are so loyal â  Trump  said of Bundy.
But since becoming a presidential candidate and then president   Trump  has been sympathetic to the Bundy faction  which backed  him  in the election.  He  chose a Bundy ranch conspirator  Gerald DeLemus  as a New Hampshire convention delegate and state co-chair of Veterans for  Trump . DeLemus was unable to cast his vote for  Trump  at the Republican nominating convention because he was in jail on weapons and other charges from his role at the ranch standoff. Federal prosecutors described DeLemus as a âgunman and midlevel organizerâ whoâd overseen âCamp Liberty â which housed armed militia members near the Bundy ranch for several weeks after the BLMâs attempt to round up Bundyâs cattle. DeLemus pleaded guilty to the charges and was later sentenced to seven years in prison.
 Trump  also picked a Bundy sympathizer to serve on his transition team for the Interior Department  which oversees the BLM. In the 1990s  Karen Budd-Falen  a Wyoming property rights lawyer and former Reagan-era Interior Department official  represented ranchers in Bunkersville  where Bundy lives  who sued the BLM for trying to get their cows off the habitat of an endangered desert tortoise.
In 2014  Budd-Falen told the Daily Caller that âthe Cliven Bundy situation goes to show how American citizens react when a government has so expanded that it believes that the citizens are subservient to political power.â She went on  âThis is simply a case of the government putting a rancher out of business because the rancher has to prove a negativeâthe burden is on the rancher while all deference goes to the federal government and the government only has to make allegations to eliminate a family  a business  a community  a way of life.â Over the summer  rumors surfaced that  Trump  intended to nominate Budd-Falen to head the BLM. Budd-Falen did not respond to a request for comment.
In one of his last official acts in office  President Barack Obama turned 300 000 acres around the Bundy ranch into the Gold Butte National Monument  a federally protected area managed by the BLM. After  Trump  took office  one of the federal monuments Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended shrinking was Gold Butte.
Despite the  Trump  administrationâs sympathy for Bundy  a pardon might be premature. Bundy hasnât yet been convicted of a crime  and itâs not clear that he ever will be. The government has so far failed to convince a jury to convict anyone from the Bundy family on any criminal charges  either in Nevada or in Oregon  where Bundyâs son Ammon led the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016.
And now that   [TGT] has pardoned Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio  infamous for  [TGT]  extreme use of profiling to target undocumented immigrants  Bundyâs supporters see an opportunity for  [TGT]  as well. Bundy has been in jail since February 2016 and is set to stand trial on October 10 for his role in the ranch standoff  along with his sons Ryan and Ammon and four other defendants.
  [TGT] confidant Roger Stone has been leading the charge for a pardon  as  [TGT]  did for Arpaio. In July  Stone was the featured attraction at a Las Vegas fundraiser for the Bundy defendants. He gave a speech calling on  Trump  to âreview this case in the name of justice  in the name of mercyâ and âpardon every member of the Bundy family.â Following the roadmap he used for Arpaio  heâs also raised the issue on the conspiracy-theory website InfoWars  and he repeated the pardon calls last month in another visit to Las Vegas.
Itâs unclear how receptive   [TGT] might be to the idea of a Bundy pardon.   [TGT] was lukewarm on Bundy in 2014  when the ranch standoff was in the news.   [TGT]   told Fox Newsâ Sean Hannity at the time  âI like  [TGT]   I like  [TGT]  spirit   [TGT]  spunk and the people that are so loyalâ¦I respect him.â But  [TGT]  expressed uneasiness with Bundyâs taking the law into  [TGT]  own hands and suggested that  [TGT]  âcut a dealâ with the Obama administration to settle the cattle debate.
Now that   [TGT] is president   [TGT]  may have other ideas. Like  [TGT]  pardon of Arpaio  pardoning Bundy might play well with  [TGT]  base  particularly the white nationalists who arenât bothered byâor even admireâBundyâs 2014 comments that âthe Negroâ might have been better off under slavery. Most of the mainstream politicians whoâd initially supported Bundyâs cause quickly dropped him after video of his diatribe surfaced. Even Hannity dropped Bundyâs cause.
âI like him  I like his spirit  his spunk and the people that are so loyal â   [TGT] said of Bundy.
But since becoming a presidential candidate and then president    [TGT]   has been sympathetic to the Bundy faction  which backed   [TGT]   in the election.   [TGT]   chose a Bundy ranch conspirator  Gerald DeLemus  as a New Hampshire convention delegate and state co-chair of Veterans for  [TGT]  . DeLemus was unable to cast his vote for   [TGT] at the Republican nominating convention because he was in jail on weapons and other charges from his role at the ranch standoff. Federal prosecutors described DeLemus as a âgunman and midlevel organizerâ whoâd overseen âCamp Liberty â which housed armed militia members near the Bundy ranch for several weeks after the BLMâs attempt to round up Bundyâs cattle. DeLemus pleaded guilty to the charges and was later sentenced to seven years in prison.
  [TGT] also picked a Bundy sympathizer to serve on  [TGT]  transition team for the Interior Department  which oversees the BLM. In the 1990s  Karen Budd-Falen  a Wyoming property rights lawyer and former Reagan-era Interior Department official  represented ranchers in Bunkersville  where Bundy lives  who sued the BLM for trying to get their cows off the habitat of an endangered desert tortoise.
In 2014  Budd-Falen told the Daily Caller that âthe Cliven Bundy situation goes to show how American citizens react when a government has so expanded that it believes that the citizens are subservient to political power.â She went on  âThis is simply a case of the government putting a rancher out of business because the rancher has to prove a negativeâthe burden is on the rancher while all deference goes to the federal government and the government only has to make allegations to eliminate a family  a business  a community  a way of life.â Over the summer  rumors surfaced that  Trump  intended to nominate Budd-Falen to head the BLM. Budd-Falen did not respond to a request for comment.
In one of his last official acts in office  President Barack Obama turned 300 000 acres around the Bundy ranch into the Gold Butte National Monument  a federally protected area managed by the BLM. After  Trump  took office  one of the federal monuments Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended shrinking was Gold Butte.
Despite the  Trump  administrationâs sympathy for Bundy  a pardon might be premature. Bundy hasnât yet been convicted of a crime  and itâs not clear that he ever will be. The government has so far failed to convince a jury to convict anyone from the Bundy family on any criminal charges  either in Nevada or in Oregon  where Bundyâs son Ammon led the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016.