“Constitutional Sheriffs” CEO Sam Bushman is a Member of Ammon Bundy’s People’s Rights Network
IREHR has repeatedly documented the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association’s (CSPOA) relationships with paramilitary, far-right, and white nationalist groups and their leaders.
This has included well-documented ties to the white nationalist secessionist League of the South, the insurrectionist Oath Keepers, James Edwards of the neo-fascist American Freedom Party, Jim O’Brien (aka Padraig Martin) of Identity Dixie, antisemite Robert David Steele and KrisAnne Hall – the so-called “constitutionalist” and CSPOA trainer whose legal “theories” would overturn the Reconstruction.
On his September 15 Liberty Roundtable broadcast, Bushman added another group to the list – announcing that he is a Utah member of Ammon Bundy’s People’s Rights network (PRN). In a show featuring People’s Rights network members Casey Whalen and Lori Marr, the CSPOA leader explained,
“What they try to do is claim that, hey, we’re either evil or we don’t have credentials. Neither are holding any water as the new media is taking center stage. And People’s Rights has become a great organization to help with that. Lori’s a member in Idaho. I am a proud member in the great state of Utah. You know a lot of people want us to, oh, hush, hush, don’t mention you’re part of Ammon’s group. I ain’t doing that. Ammon’s a great, honorable man, ladies and gentlemen, and I publicly endorsed him for governor of the great state of Idaho, and I’m not backing away from that.”[1]
Ammon Bundy is notorious for his 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Southern Oregon. Beginning in early 2020, Bundy led the growth of the People’s Rights network through a mix of far-right ideology, alliances with like-minded groups, and misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2016 CSPOA founder Richard Mack had called the Malheur occupation a “misguided protest” and told Bundy to “get out of there,” according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.[2]
Prior to Bushman’s announced PRN membership, Ammon Bundy had appeared as a guest on the CSPOA leader’s show at least 16 times between November 2015 and May 2023 – and Bushman reported on and boosted Bundy’s far-right escapades many more times. This included the January 2016 “Reports Live from Inside the Wildlife Refuge Continued!” and the show’s February 2020 declaration that “Sam Bushman Publicly Calls for Ammon Bundy to Be Nominated For 2020 Nobel Peace Prize!”[3]
In July, an Idaho jury found that Bundy, fellow PRN leader Diego Rodriguez, and affiliated organizations had defamed staff at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise, Idaho. The jury ordered Bundy et al. to pay over $52 million to the plaintiffs. In August, Bundy was arrested on a contempt warrant connected to his failure to appear for proceedings in the St. Luke’s lawsuit.
In recent months, Casey Whalen has used his North Idaho Exposed Substack blog to target human rights activists in northern Idaho, casting them as “COMMUNIST organizations” and “Agents of the United Nations” engaged in a conspiracy with police to “destroy the western way of life in North Idaho.”[4]
NOTES
[1] Liberty Roundtable. Radio Show Hour 1 – 9/15/2023. September 15, 2023. https://www.libertyroundtable.com/2023/09/15/radio-show-hour-1-9-15-2023/
[2] Wilson, Conrad and Bradley W. Parks. Judge Criticizes Defense In Occupation Trial; Cox Testifies. OPB. October 13, 2016. https://www.opb.org/news/series/burns-oregon-standoff-bundy-militia-news-updates/protest-richard-mack-david-ward/
[3] Liberty Roundtable. Search for “Ammon Bundy” conducted September 27, 2023. https://www.libertyroundtable.com/?s=ammon+bundy; Liberty Roundtable. Radio Show Hour 1 – 2/8/2020. https://www.libertyroundtable.com/2020/02/08/radio-show-hour-1-2-8-2020/; Liberty Roundtable. Radio Show Hour 2. January 5, 2016. https://www.libertyroundtable.com/2016/01/05/radio-show-hour-2-305/
[4] Whalen, Casey. Human Rights networks conspire to influence North Idaho. North Idaho Exposed. August 3, 2023. https://caseywhalen.substack.com/p/human-rights-networks-conspire-to; Whalen, Casey. North Idaho Catholic Rosary Walk Reported By Human Rights Networks To Police And F.B.I. North Idaho Exposed. September 8, 2023. https://caseywhalen.substack.com/p/north-idaho-catholic-rosary-walk
