Report: Bureau Of Land Management Committed ‘Intrusive, Oppressive Militaristic Trespass’ Against Cliven Bundy

A report by a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) special agent, who was later removed from his position in the investigation conducted by Nevada’s acting U.S. Attorney Steve Myhre into the Bureau’s 2014 standoff with rancher Cliven Bundy, claimed the BLM displayed “incredible bias” and widespread misconduct in the matter.

BLM Special Agent Larry Wooten sent his report to the Department of Justice; it was later posted by Washington state Rep. Matt Shea on his Facebook page. Wooten was removed from his position with Myhre in February; Assistant Special Agent Kent Klemen was ordered by Myhre to grab Wooten’s notes and case materials from his office.

In the report, Wooten wrote:

I routinely observed, and the investigation revealed a widespread pattern of bad judgment, lack of discipline, incredible bias, unprofessionalism and misconduct, as well as likely policy, ethical and legal violations among senior supervisory staff at the BLM’s Office of Law Enforcement and Security. … When I discovered these issues, I promptly reported them to my supervisor. … Often, I realized that my supervisor was already aware of these issues, participated in, or instigated the misconduct himself, was present when the issues were reported to both of us, or was the reporting party himself. When I reported these issues, my supervisor seemed generally unsurprised and uninterested and was dismissive, and seemed unconcerned.

The longer the investigation went on, the more extremely unprofessional, familiar, racy, vulgar and bias-filled actions, open comments and inappropriate electronic communications I was made aware of, or I personally witnessed. … At any given time, you could hear subjects of this investigation referred to as “retards,” “rednecks,” “overweight woman with the big jowls,” “douche bags,” “tractor face,” “idiots,” “in-bred,” etc.

In addition, the report stated that one BLM agent had a “kill list” naming people who had committed suicide while under investigation by the agency. The report said agents boasted about “grinding” a Bundy family member’s face into gravel; the report also noted lead prosecutor and Nevada’s acting U.S. Attorney Steve Myhre’s “preferred ignorance” of investigation details which would bolster the Bundys’ defense case.

Wooten wrote that former Special Agent Dan Love, who supervised the impounding of Cliven Bundy’s cattle in 2014, conducted “the most intrusive, oppressive, large scale and militaristic trespass cattle impound possible.”

According to the Oregonian, last week prosecutors shared the report with the Bundys’ defense attorneys, which prompted Bundys’ attorneys to ask Judge Gloria Navarro for a mistrial, or for the case to be dismissed altogether.

As BizPacReview notes, “Navarro has ruled that Myhre’s prosecution team has committed numerous Brady Act violations failing to turn over exculpatory evidence, evidence that may exonerate the Bundys. In light of the violations and Wooten’s memo, Navarro sent the jury home last week as she considers ruling a mistrial or dismissing the case.”