Nevada independent gubernatorial candidate Ryan Bundy announced a lawsuit against then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former federal agents.
Outside the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse, where a judge cleared him of felony charges in January, Bundy told reporters and supporters last week that his constitutional rights had been violated when federal agents moved in on the family ranch in April 2014. Alongside him were his father, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was also cleared in the case, and Washington, D.C., lawyer Larry Klayman.
The Bundys spent nearly two years behind bars, under conditions they described as difficult, but they said they learned from the experience. The 2014 standoff occurred after federal agents tried to execute a court order to round up Cliven Bundy’s cattle.
Ryan Bundy, who celebrated his 46th birthday Oct. 31, the anniversary of Nevada’s 1864 admission to the Union, wore a bolo tie with a metal clip in the shape of the state and carried a copy of the U.S. Constitution tucked in the left pocket of his black leather vest.
The lawsuit “will probably affect the election,” he said. “People see that I am going to do something. I am going to be active. I’m not just going to stand by, as some of my competitors in the campaign have done, where they have been in the position to stand up for Nevada’s rights and have failed to do so.”
The lawsuit names Sessions, former Attorneys General Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder, former Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze and former FBI Director James Comey, citing prosecutorial misconduct and violation of Bundy’s First and Fourth Amendment rights.
The lawsuit did not specify a dollar amount, but Klayman told reporters that a judgment in the millions of dollars would amount to “a lesson for people like them in the federal government not to violate the constitutional rights of Americans.”
Sessions resigned as attorney general on Wednesday, at the request of President Donald Trump, effective immediately, according to news reports. The resignation was unrelated to the Bundy lawsuit.
Bundy was unsuccessful in his bid to be elected Nevada governor on Tuesday.
The Pahrump Valley Times staff contributed to this story.