Billy-Bob animal refuge

GOP candidates call for end to armed standoff at Oregon refuge

By Nick Gass

Republican presidential candidates on Monday called for an end to the armed siege at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, denouncing the use of violence and general lawlessness, with some hinting that they should be occupying another federal facility — prison.

Speaking to reporters in Iowa, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said he hoped that the protesters would step aside, adding that "our prayers right now are with everyone involved in what's happening with Oregon, and especially those in law enforcement that are risking their lives."

"Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds. But we don't have a constitutional right to use force and violence and to threaten force and violence on others," he said. "And so it is our hope that the protesters there will stand down peaceably, that there will not be a violent confrontation."

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio decried the occupation as "lawless" and urged those involved in the standoff to pursue what they wanted through more lawful, constructive means.

"You can’t be lawless. We live in a republic," Rubio told Iowa radio station KBUR. "There are ways to change the laws of this country and the policies. If we get frustrated with it, that’s why we have elections. That’s why we have people we can hold accountable."

At the same time, Rubio said that he agreed the federal government controlled too much land in the Western United States but that "no one should be doing it in a way that’s outside the law."

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he had not heard about the standoff, according to an exchange reported by an NBC News journalist. However, one of his campaign's senior strategists did tweet about the incident on Sunday. "I know a good federal compound for Bundy and his gang: a U.S. penitentiary," John Weaver wrote.

It wasn't just GOP campaigns coming out against the protesters. The criticism transcended party lines, with Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) echoing Weaver.

House Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) blasted the occupiers' assertion that they wanted the land returned to the people of the state.

"Return it to the people? The people have it right now," Reid exclaimed, according to accounts of his speech.

The group that began its occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge over the weekend includes Ammon and Ryan Bundy, sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who himself led an armed standoff against the federal government in 2014 over land rights.

"It is the people's facility owned by the people, and it has been provided for us to be able to come together and unite and making a hard stand against this overreach, this taking of the people's land and resources," Ammon Bundy said in an interview aired earlier on MSNBC. Over the weekend, Bundy said the occupiers would be prepared to stay "for years."

At a news conference later in the day, Bundy announced that the group occupying the property wished to be called Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.

"We intend on going to work and assisting the people of Harney County in claiming their rights, using their rights as free people," Bundy told reporters.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who met with Cliven Bundy in Nevada last year, said that he was "sympathetic" to the cause but disavowed violence, according to a Washington Post reporter's tweet.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest called the standoff a "local law enforcement" matter, adding, “We’re hopeful that situation can be resolved peacefully and without violence."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also weighed in on Monday, saying its leaders were disturbed by protesters' scriptural references. "While the disagreement occurring in Oregon about the use of federal lands is not a Church matter, Church leaders strongly condemn the armed seizure of the facility and are deeply troubled by the reports that those who have seized the facility suggest that they are doing so based on scriptural principles," the church said in a statement.

In this dispute, militia members took to the compound to protest the jail sentences of two Oregon ranchers sentenced to additional terms for arson for two separate incidents in 2001 and 2006. Both ranchers, Dwight Hammond Jr., 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, were convicted three years ago, with the father spending three months in prison and the son a year. Both planned to report to prison without incident on Monday in California.