- This is Ammon Bundy.
I normally do not do, you know, a quick video like this.
But I felt it very important that I do it
because of the circumstances.
[dramatic music]
- For many decades, Cliven Bundy had been grazing
his cattle on federal land.
And he decided, I'm not going to pay my grazing fees anymore.
We're talking millions of dollars.
- And suddenly, you went from this is a cattle issue--
[shouting]
--to you have somebody in an overpass
with a scoped high-power rifle,
pointing it at a federal agent.
- Long gun. Sidearm.
These guys are coming on display.
They're calling for people to come.
- We need your help.
- They're looking for a fight.
[shouting]
- We don't have the numbers.
And this is going to be a bad outcome.
[gunshots]
[dramatic music]
- In the FBI, we make a lot of headlines.
♪ ♪
Drug busts,
mob stings,
terrorist takedowns.
- Get down! Get down!
- We understand why people want to tell stories about us.
- Mark it.
- Freeze! - FBI.
- FBI! - Action!
- But they don't know the half of it.
[indistinct radio chatter]
What really goes down,
we save that for each other
when we're talking agent-to-agent.
♪ ♪
This is "FBI True."
[tense music]
- Explain to me what Bunkerville is.
- Kristy Kottis is a 24-year veteran of the FBI.
She worked gangs, crimes against children,
as well as human and drug trafficking.
- What happened in Bunkerville was something that
had been boiling for decades.
♪ ♪
Cliven Bundy had been running his ranch
and grazing his cattle
on federal land for many decades.
- Greg Bretzing followed in his father's footsteps
when he joined the FBI in 1995.
He retired as special agent in charge of the
Portland, Oregon field office.
- And at some point in time, Cliven Bundy decided,
I'm not going to pay my grazing fees anymore.
And case after case went to federal court in which he lost
and was ordered to pay back fees, pay interest,
or get his cattle off the land.
And every time, he refused to do so.
[cows lowing]
- So, Eric, when are you first hearing about Bunkerville?
- It's back at headquarters, actually on the Seventh Floor.
But I'd spent enough time in my career out West
that I was familiar with the territory, some of the issues.
Can the federal government own land,
land rights, grazing rights?
It's sort of woven into a lot of the Western states,
that relationship between the federal government,
in this case, and people that live and work the land.
- Eric Barnhart was a senior advisor to the FBI director
before becoming special agent in charge of
the Salt Lake City field office.
- What about you, Greg?
- Well, I was a brand-new SAC in Portland, Oregon.
And when we heard what was going on down in Bunkerville
and the Bundys, we knew we had some
of these same characters in our division, in our territory.
So we watched it very closely, the way it progressed,
the way it escalated.
- Tim, what about you?
Where were you when Bunkerville started?
- I was in Eugene.
And my primary role was working domestic terrorism cases.
- Tim Suttles was an FBI crisis negotiation leader
with the Portland, Oregon, field office.
- So when we're talking grazing fees,
what are we talking about?
- We're talking millions of dollars that were
back-owed to the government.
He's also putting too many cattle out on the land.
They're destroying the land.
I think it was 1993 when he paid his last
grazing fees to the government.
- So finally, in 2014, the Bureau of Land Management
decided to take enforcement action and got a federal judge,
sign a warrant that allowed them to go
and collect the cattle that was illegally grazing on the land,
which, of course, the Bundys didn't take too kindly to it.
- Well, I've fought this thing legally.
I fought it politically.
I fought it through the media.
And I will fight it on the ground if I have to.
- They paint themselves out as the small guy--
- Right.
- --being put upon by this big federal government
that's heavy handed,
that's taking away their rights.
- They start with the premise of what
they want for themselves.
And then they go through the buffet
and pick out things that will support their case.
And most of the time, it's fringe thinking,
to include federal government doesn't
have the right to own land.
And it gets to just the self-feeding.
And it's so hard to unwind.
- Did you guys quickly realize that the FBI
would be getting involved in this situation?
- BLM let us know what they were going to be doing.
We knew they would be executing a search warrant.
We knew that date, the time, the location.
The BLM, working together with others,
executed the search warrant, advised the Bundys
that they were going to collect the cattle,
and over a period of several days,
began operations and sent agents and officers out
to round up the cattle and bring them
to a central location where they
could then take that cattle, cart it off,
and take it to auction.
And during that timeframe, the Bundys, Cliven,
the dad, the patriarch of the group,
and his sons, Ammon and Ryan--
Did a social media campaign calling for help.
[messages pinging]
Asking militia members, like-minded individuals,
to come and help them.
And it was always bring your guns.
Bring your guns.
Come help us and bring your guns.
They're calling for people to come, and, in essence,
they're looking for a fight.
- We could monitor social media.
We could see there was a lot of people responding.
And, hey, I'll be there. You know, I'm on my way.
[pinging]
It escalated really quick.
♪ ♪
- But over days, you could see
more and more militia showing up.
♪ ♪
- We're not talking about guys coming with a concealed weapon.
We're talking about people coming fully kitted out.
What does that look like?
- Long gun. Bulletproof vest.
Side arm. Extra magazines.
These guys are coming on display, so not only
are there to pick a fight, but they want to be on display
while they're doing it.
And it's important to remember, when you call for help,
you're not picking who you're calling.
You won't know who's coming.
But you tell them, come and bring your guns,
and there's no way you can control
what they're going to do.
- A lot of militias showed up.
There was a lot of angst in that area,
you know, agents being followed.
BLM agents were being harassed.
And there was guns pointed at each other.
[tense music]
- I still remember very clearly an individual lying
on an overpass with his long gun in a sniper-prone position,
pointing that weapon at the BLM officers.
- And you have no idea what sort of discipline they have,
how that person is seeing through the reticle.
What's going to cause them to pull that trigger?
This person could be here for a very bad reason.
- I know personally the supervisor
in charge of that operation.
When they're pointing that weapon at those officers,
they're pointing at people we know.
And you can just imagine what they're feeling,
with people and guns shouting at them
as they're coming in and out of the area
where they're collecting the cattle.
It's their command post.
- Get back! Get back!
- And it's basically surrounded.
[shouting]
It evolved from a law enforcement operation,
as Eric said, to collect cattle,
to a near riot almost overnight.
♪ ♪
- It was all hands on deck for a lot of the surrounding areas.
The Portland division,
Las Vegas, California,
Salt Lake,
to dive into human intelligence,
dive into social media intelligence,
because we need to find a way to tamp this down
and deescalate it somehow.
all: No BLM!
No BLM!
- About three days in, the confrontation with BLM
comes to a point where Ammon Bundy is tased.
[shouting]
[taser crackling]
[siren wailing]
And that escalated the confrontation
greatly at that point.
- Back up! Back up!
- It lit social media on fire.
[pinging]
- I think he got the outcome that he wanted.
It was a rallying cry.
- A real Wild West showdown, federal agents
clashing with protesters, some from armed militia groups,
who are arriving now from all over the country.
- What are you seeing from a case agent standpoint?
- Now, you're seeing a lot more people head that way.
We were starting to hear intelligence
from all over the country,
militias in Arkansas and Florida heading that way.
- They're looking for that viral moment.
- No BLM!
- Tell the American public what you just saw, dude.
- Enemy aggressors. This is the road I grew up on.
- They're looking for that spark that they can use
to fan their flame of discontent.
- Tell them what they did. - They threw me to the dirt.
- And then they're going to exploit it.
- Then I got hit twice.
Oh, my gosh, there's blood.
- They have it escalated so high
that they're now forcing this confrontation.
They're in the faces of the BLM officers.
[shouting]
They're antagonizing them. They're taunting them.
[aggressive shouting]
They're not obeying a lawful order
to the point where they start heading to the pen
to start letting out the cattle.
[cheering]
[dramatic music]
[whistling]
[indistinct police PA announcement]
♪ ♪
- We don't have the numbers.
And they're not going to respect
our authority to be here.
- This is going to be a bad outcome.
♪ ♪
- And on the federal government side,
bringing more numbers in wasn't an option at this point either.
Tempers were high.
[shouting] - Hey, hey, hey!
- There were already out there a large number of armed people,
aching for a fight.
♪ ♪
This was a fight that was going to be won another day.
And in order to avoid bloodshed and a shootout
and innocent parties or guilty parties being hurt,
a decision was made.
BLM officers gathered their stuff and drive out.
[cheering]
♪ ♪
And of course, they're doing it to the chorus of cheers
and applause as they have driven
the federal government away, and they kept their cattle.
[cars honking]
- When it ended, I knew
that this was going to give a lot of steam
to the militia movement
because they just beat the U.S. government.
- We're going to kick the BLM out of the state.
Kick all the other federal agencies out of the state
that aren't authorized to be here.
- They just won.
♪ ♪
- A week-long battle between a cattle rancher
and federal officers comes to a sudden end.
- What did they agree to today, though?
- They agreed to get out of here.
- When you get pictures of the BLM agents
collecting their gear, putting in their trucks,
and speeding out--
- There they go.
- --that is a picture-perfect victory for the Bundys.
- Good morning, America!
[cheers and applause]
- Cliven now has a bigger pulpit.
He continues to give interviews and tell his story,
get the narrative out there.
- 20 years ago, I could see that the federal government,
the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service,
the Park Service, these people were only--
their only desire was to eliminate
us ranchers off this land.
- But then he imploded once he started
to opine on some horrific views on race.
- I'm wondering, Cliven Bundy is wondering,
about these people.
Now, I'm talking about the Black community.
- And as quickly as he came on the scene
and was given his moment in the sun,
his true colors came out.
- And I've often wondered, are they better off as slaves,
picking cotton and having family life and doing things,
or are they better off under government subsidy?
- And I think that was the end of his media tour.
- That is when the leadership of the Bundy family
transitioned from Cliven Bundy, patriarch,
and firmly taken over by his son, Ammon Bundy.
- And Ammon Bundy has a more charismatic
"aw shucks" sort of person.
But I think what you had is, you know, he could
be maybe the new messenger
now that the old man had flamed out.
- Ammon Bundy took that as an opportunity to proselyte.
And he took that story,
and he had a speaking tour throughout the West.
He was in Idaho.
He was in Utah. He went through Nevada.
And he told this story.
- But months and months, then a year,
and then a year and a half go by,
and no charges are brought.
So that then leaves them emboldened
and looking for their next fight.
- In an unrelated matter, in June 2012, two Oregon ranchers,
Dwight and Steven Hammond were convicted of committing arson
on federal land in Harney County.
- And the fires set by the Hammonds,
fires that they admitted setting,
they put people's lives at risk,
including the BLM firefighters.
- The Hammonds were convicted of lighting
a fire that spread to federal land
in protest over cattle grazing rights.
- And the judge sentenced them.
There's a five-year mandatory minimum
for arson of federal property.
He sentenced them to less than that.
So that was appealed.
The appellate court finally made
a decision in like October of 2015,
said, no, the judge erred.
You need to serve the rest of your five years
to both of them.
- Two Oregon ranchers must go back
to prison for starting fires that burned on federal land,
even though they already served time for the charges.
- I don't know what to say.
It's just seems like a little overreach
for having burned 127 acres.
- The Bundys were looking for a rallying cry.
This was their rallying cry.
They were going to go protect the Hammonds.
The Hammonds were supposed to report to prison
to finish their sentence on January 4 of 2016.
So in October of 15, the Bundys start showing up.
♪ ♪
- These abuses to the Hammonds
will continue to go on and on and on
if they are not put to an end at this time.
- I spoke to Dave Ward.
Dave Ward was the sheriff of Harney County.
And shortly after Ammon Bundy and his brother
came into Burns, they visited him in his office.
And Dave Ward told me, initially,
they were very complimentary.
They let him know that he was the sheriff of the county.
He was the highest elected law enforcement official,
that it was his duty to stand up and protect
these poor people, the Hammonds,
who were being unfairly treated by
an oppressive federal government.
And Sheriff Ward said, as long as I'm nodding
and just listening, they're very kind.
You know, they're very, very polite.
As soon as the sheriff said,
yeah, I'm not going to do that,
Sheriff Ward said it was remarkable how quickly
it went from polite and kind to threatening.
And if you're not going to do your job,
we'll do your job for you.
- They were pushing for the sheriff
to protect the Hammonds because he's the highest official
in the land because they don't recognize
the federal government.
He has a duty to protect them,
to keep them from going to jail.
- How far away from Burns did the Bundys live?
- By car, eight-hour drive.
- They're eight hours from their home.
- Yeah.
- And they've decided to come into Burns,
speak to the sheriff there, tell him his job.
- Right.
They're proposing to defy the federal government,
to keep the Hammonds from turning themselves
into the point of even barricading them in their house
and preventing federal marshals from taking them,
as if that was ever the plan. - Right.
- But they were offended on the part of a third party
that wanted really no part of this.
- Right.
- The Hammonds didn't want this.
- The plan was for them to turn themselves in peacefully.
And they wanted to interrupt that plan.
And, again, they're always looking for that confrontation.
I like to call it, they're looking for
the federal foil, somebody they can push up against.
And that's what they're trying to instigate.
- So when the Hammonds didn't work,
and the Hammonds weren't as cooperative as they would like,
they had to pivot to something else.
- Ammon Bundy here.
There's been a lot of rumor bouncing around about
what's going on in Harney County.
And I am wanting to talk to the individual, to the patriot,
that this is not a time to stand down.
It is a time to stand up and come to Harney County.
We need your help.
You need to get to Burns on the 2nd or before.
We need your help. Thank you.
- I remember I was dropping my daughter off at the airport
to send her back to college, January 2.
Been through a nice holidays. New Year's is over.
She's on her way back.
And as I'm dropping her off on the curb, my phone is ringing.
And it's the sheriff,
letting me know the Bundys,
still trying to cloak themselves in the Hammond cause,
they organize a parade and rally
in support of the Hammonds before they turn
themselves in on January 4.
[indistinct chatter]
And the parade was, by all accounts, largely peaceful.
[indistinct chatter]
A lot of people displaying weapons and flags.
It made its way through town and ended up
in the Safeway parking lot.
And that is where Ammon Bundy gets up on his soapbox.
- For those that understand that they
came to make a hard stand--
- Has a bunch of things to say.
- --those that know what's going on here and have seen it
for many, many, many, many years,
those who are ready to actually do something about it.
- And towards the end, announces that they're heading off
to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
And he calls on those there
to follow him out there to take it over.
- I'm asking you to follow me
and go to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
And we're going to make a hard stand.
- We've been watching these guys now for months.
We saw what happened in Bunkerville.
- No BLM! - You need to leave.
[shouting]
[cheering]
- But we had no idea that it was
in their plans to head out to the refuge and take it over.
I don't think anybody there knew
that this was Ammon's plan.
[cars whooshing]
So they enter the Wildlife Refuge--
♪ ♪
And start moving into the offices,
start repositioning vehicles,
and start setting up a defensive perimeter.
- Man, the people better wake up,
get here, and fight for your country!
Right now!
- We're not going to fall into the same trap
that happened in Bunkerville.
- We need you to bring your arms.
And we need you to come to
the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
- They put armed men in a 100-foot fire tower
with sniper rifles.
They took fire practice.
- Fire!
[gunfire]
- The folks at the refuge said if we can kidnap an FBI agent
we can end this on our terms.
- ♪ What you gonna do ♪
♪ When the militia comes after you, FBI? ♪