Cliven Bundy: Obama Wants to Sell My Ranch to 'Communist Chinese'

He filed a 'completely bonkers' lawsuit Tuesday
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted May 10, 2016 6:19 PM CDT
Updated May 11, 2016 12:33 AM CDT
Cliven Bundy: Obama Wants to Sell My Ranch to 'Communist Chinese'
Rancher Cliven Bundy stands along the road near his Nevada ranch in January.   (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cliven Bundy has filed what Gawker calls a "completely bonkers" lawsuit against President Obama, Harry Reid, Reid's son, and a federal judge. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the 70-year-old Bundy is seeking more than $50 million in damages and his prompt release from custody for various alleged violations of his constitutional rights. The lawsuit filed Tuesday claims Reid used "federal storm-troopers" against Bundy and his "peaceful cowboys" during a 2014 standoff in Nevada over grazing fees, NBC News reports. Joel Hansen, Bundy's attorney, says his client's prosecution is a clear "misuse of power" by Obama and Reid. "He hasn't agreed with the politics of the day," Hansen tells the Review-Journal. "He said some things that are politically incorrect."

The lawsuit also claims Reid and Obama have been insulting Bundy publicly—specifically pointing to some jokes Obama made at the 2014 White House Correspondents' Dinner—in order to take his ranch from him in an "under-the-table negotiated deal." Obama and Reid would then sell Bundy's ranch to "communist Chinese" for "profit and/or kickbacks," according to the lawsuit. Gawker points out the lawsuit also includes a number of debunked conspiracy theories regarding Reid's family. In discussing the lawsuit and Bundy's plight, Hansen compared his client to Nelson Mandela. A federal prosecutor has called Bundy's claims "offensive" and "outrageous"; Reid's office prefers "baseless and absurd." (More Cliven Bundy stories.)

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