Bundy: Dispute is jurisdictional issue with feds

Hours after the Burns Paiute Tribe called for an end to the armed standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, militia leader Ammon Bundy said the heart of the issue is who has jurisdiction over these lands. Surrounded by a group of supporters, Ammon Bundy told the media Wednesday they have evidence “to exonerate the Hammonds,” the Oregon ranchers who are now serving a prison sentence in California for arson on federal lands. Bundy said they “have multiple witnesses” to the 2006 fire the Hammonds admitted starting. Bundy said these witnesses saw people with the Bureau of Land Management start the fire which threatened the Hammonds’ land. Because of the threat, Bundy said, the Hammonds started the back fire. “That’s never been reviewed in court,” he said, adding they have “strong enough evidence we will be able to get the Hammonds released.”  Bundy — who refused to say how many people are now at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge with his militia — said the heart of this matter is “a jurisdictional issue between the federal and the state governments.” The people, he said, are being abused by the federal government in an abuse of territorial authority...KOIN