Bundy insists US can’t own land, no matter who’s president

LAS VEGAS (AP) – The Nevada rancher who had his charges dismissed in a 2014 armed standoff with government agents is insisting that it’s up to the states, not the federal officials, how to manage vast expanses of rangeland in the U.S. West.

Some watching Cliven Bundy’s case think he’ll find more support from President Donald Trump than he did under former President Barack Obama, who was in power when the standoff occurred.

But Bundy said Tuesday that it doesn’t matter because he believes the U.S. government has no land-owning authority in the states.

Ian Bartrum, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas, law professor who has been writing about the Bundy case and federal land policy, said it seems like “a good moment for the Bundys to find a receptive ear in the White House, federal agencies and, perhaps, Congress.”