LIVE – Audio Inside Malheur National Wildlife Refuge – FBI Surrounds Occupiers

We’re wrapping up our live coverage for now, but will have all the latest developments ahead of the expected surrender of the remaining occupiers at 8am PST Thursday – you’ll be able to find that here.

In the meantime, here’s our latest news round-up. Thanks for reading.

The FBI has issued this (very pithy) press release:

Cliven Bundy was taken into federal custody on the evening of Wednesday, February 10, 2016, in Portland.

Further information on the charges is expected to be available on Thursday morning.

It’s understood that Cliven Bundy has been charged in relation to a separate standoff, in Nevada, which took place in 2014.

That began when the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wanted to seize cows belonging to Cliven Bundy – a Nevada rancher and the father of Ammon and Ryan Bundy, key figures in the Oregon standoff – over $1.2m (£840,000) in unpaid fees for grazing on federal land over two decades.

Bundy rejected the agency’s authority, triggering the faceoff. He continued to graze his cattle on federal land and has said he would not pay the bill.

Sam Levin has been talking to Mike Arnold, Ammon Bundy’s attorney who is currently driving with assemblywoman Fiore to the refuge.

Arnold confirmed by phone that Cliven Bundy has been arrested, which he said he learned from the FBI.

He said he worried it could derail the plan for a resolution at the refuge on Thursday morning:

“It’s unfortunate timing considering all the progress that we made this evening, but I hope that the folks at the refuge find some positive observations out of it.

“Cliven was arrested safely and without incident, without harm.

“So we’re hoping tomorrow everything turns out the same and everybody can be in that courtroom together arguing their position.”

Oregonian reporter Les Zait says Cliven Bundy has been detained in relation to a separate standoff, which took place in neighbouring Nevada in 2004:

In a brief phone chat with the Guardian’s Sam Levin just after 11pm PST, Cliven Bundy’s wife Carol confirmed that he had flown in, but said she didn’t know if he had been detained.

Two Bundy sons – Ammon and Ryan – are already being held in Multnomah county jail in connection with the Malheur refuge standoff.

I’m now seeing reports that Cliven Bundy – the father of Oregon militia leader Ammon Bundy, and who earlier told the Guardian he was on the way to the site of the standoff – has been detained and is being held in Multnomah county jail.

We are working to verify this information.

• Four remaining occupiers of the Malheur wildlife refuge in Burns, Oregon, say they will turn themselves in to the FBI at 8am PST Thursday.
• The pledge came after FBI agents surrounded the refuge on Wednesday night, 40 days after armed militia members took control of the property.
• Sean Anderson, one of the four, insisted the decision was not a surrender:

We are not surrendering, we’re turning ourselves in …

It goes against everything we believe in but we’re going to do it.

• But there has been no confirmation from the FBI of the terms of the reported agreement.
• Speaking earlier in the evening, Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said:

It has never been the FBI’s desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully.

However, we reached a point where it became necessary to take action.

• The four – along with a number of fellow militia members already arrested – face federal felony charges of conspiracy to impede officers from discharging official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.
• If convicted, the four – Anderson and his wife Sandy Anderson, Jeff Banta and David Fry – could face six-year prison sentences.
• Nevada assemblywoman Michele Fiore – who, in a sometimes surreal live stream conversation with the occupiers, acted as an unofficial mediator – says she will also be at the checkpoint, along with Christian evangelist Rev Franklin Graham.

As the four occupiers decided to turn in for the night – ahead of their scheduled meeting on Thursday morning in which the turning-in will be to the FBI – live stream host Gavin Seim played them a song by Victoria Sharp.

Sam Levin reports:

Sharp, an 18-year-old from Kansas, became a key figure in the standoff after she spoke out about LaVoy Finicum’s shooting.

Sharp was in the car with Finicum when law enforcement officials stopped them on a remote highway. She later told reporters that Finicum had his hands up when he was fatally shot – a claim the FBI has refuted.

The New York Times profiled the Sharp Family Band, which came to Oregon to perform for protesters. The family gospel band was also present at Cliven Bundy’s 2014 standoff with the federal government in Nevada. To Oregon, Victoria’s mother, Odalis Sharp, brought eight of her kids, aged five to 18.

When the family was waiting to hear if Victoria had survived the shooting with police, the family sang gospel songs inside a crowded senior center – sobbing all the way through, according to the Times.

The FBI has not commented publicly on the move to bring to an end the 40-day standoff since an early press release confirmed agents had circled the refuge.

Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said then:

It has never been the FBI’s desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully.

However, we reached a point where it became necessary to take action in a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge, the law enforcement officers who are on scene, and the people of Harney County who live and work in this area.

It should be pointed out that reports of the 8am checkpoint meeting have come entirely from the occupiers themselves.

The FBI has not confirmed the agreement, and is probably unlikely to, ahead of it taking place.

After another round of prayers, the four occupiers say they are going to try to get some sleep ahead of their scheduled meeting with the FBI at 8am PST Thursday – when they will turn themselves in.

Fiore confirms she will be on the scene on Thursday morning.

She says the first amendment and the free press are the reason the four are alive tonight.

• Four remaining occupiers of the Malheur wildlife refuge in Burns, Oregon, say they will turn themselves in to the FBI at 8am PST Thursday.
• The pledge came after FBI agents surrounded the refuge on Wednesday night, 40 days after armed militia members took control of the property.
• Sean Anderson, one of the four, said the decision was not a surrender:

We are not surrendering, we’re turning ourselves in …

It goes against everything we believe in but we’re going to do it.

• The four – along with a number of fellow militia members already arrested – face federal felony charges of conspiracy to impede officers from discharging official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.
• If convicted, the four – Anderson and his wife Sandy Anderson, Jeff Banta and David Fry – could face six-year prison sentences.
• Nevada assemblywoman Michele Fiore – who, in a sometimes surreal live stream conversation with the occupiers, has acted as an unofficial mediator – says she will be at the checkpoint, along with Christian evangelist Rev Franklin Graham.

Sean Anderson repeats that the occupiers intend to “turn ourselves in” on Thursday morning.

In the meantime, he says, they want to return to their camp and sleep for the night, before meeting the FBI (along with Fiore and Franklin Graham, potentially) at the checkpoint:

I just hope that they keep their word. We’ll keep our word. And we’ll clear this up in the morning.

Anderson tells Fiore:

We are not surrendering, we’re turning ourselves in …

It goes against everything we believe in but we’re going to do it.

We’re going to walk one after another, with the flag, and we’re going to turn ourselves in.

This map shows the layout of the Malheur wildlife refuge. The four occupiers say they are no longer inside the buildings but are camping in the grounds.

Sandy Anderson is back on the phone. She says the media has described them as “armed occupiers and militia”.

“They demonised us,” she says.

The tone of the occupiers is becoming more conciliatory.

Sean Anderson tells Seim that the FBI has offered to meet them at a checkpoint at 8am (PST) on Thursday.

He says the four of them have agreed to leave their weapons in their vehicles before approaching the checkpoint.

Both Andersons say they want the media to be present at the checkpoint.

“The world’s going to be watching,” says Seim. “They’re not just going to haul you away into the darkness.”

The occupiers continue to mull over their options.

Sandy Anderson:

I can’t even describe to how wrong it feels to be giving myself into the hands of the enemy.

Gavin Seim:

Don’t – give yourself into the hands of god.

Anderson says if they are arrested, they will lose their rights, including to vote and to own weapons.

What are the charges the four occupiers are facing? Sam Levin explains:

The four holdouts – along with 12 others associated with the standoff who have already been taken into custody – are all facing federal felony charges of conspiracy to impede officers from discharging official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.

If convicted, they could face six-year prison sentences, meaning the militia members may end up spending more time behind bars than the two Oregon ranchers whose imprisonment inspired the standoff.

The charge of impeding government officials is a broad allegation that experts say covers many of the illegal actions that have occurred at the federally protected wildlife sanctuary.

The basic contention of federal prosecutors is that protesters’ armed occupation blocked government workers from executing their duties at the refuge.

Prosecutors largely targeted high-profile leaders and militia members and then added the four holdouts to the case in a recent grand jury indictment.

Gavin Seim, hosting the broadcast, tells Sandy Anderson that Ammon Bundy and other arrested militia members have been taken out of solitary confinement.

Anderson doesn’t seem impressed – she says the FBI wants to end the occupation at the refuge so they can add extra charges to those already held, and the four who remain. She says they will never see the light of day again.

Seim says retreat isn’t always the end.

“But we will be prisoners,” says Sandy Anderson.

The fourth occupier is Jeff Banta – here’s some background on him, courtesy of AP:

The 47-year-old has lived in Elko, Nevada, the last several years and worked in construction most of his life, his ex-wife said.

Banta graduated from Yerington high school in the rural town of Yerington, about 70 miles (113km) southeast of Reno, said Angela Ellington Banta, who still lives there.

His father, Willard Banta, 73, said all of his children grew up hunting and fishing at an early age.

“I had them out in the hills with me as soon as they were old enough to walk and out of diapers,” he said.

The elder Banta said he had talked to his son “once or twice” since the standoff began but declined to provide details.

“He just said, ‘I’m all right,”’ Willard Banta said. “I’m wondering if he is going to make it out. I’d like to see my son come home. I hope he does, but I have my doubts.”

Jeffrey Banta and his ex-wife have two children, the eldest a 23-year-old woman who is married and has a child, living in the Reno area.

Ellington Banta said she doesn’t really know what her ex-husband has been doing in recent years and doesn’t want to discuss the standoff because she has “two kids who have been really affected by all this”.

The four people still inside the refuge – David Fry, Jeff Banta, and husband-and-wife Sean and Sandy Anderson – were all named in a federal indictment last week.

They – along with Ammon Bundy and others tied to the armed standoff – face federal conspiracy charges over their alleged use of “force, intimidation, and threats” against government officials, according to the indictment.

A federal grand jury has accused Bundy and the other militia members of preventing US Fish and Wildlife Service officers from discharging their official duties at the Malheur national wildlife refuge since 2 January.

The four remaining occupiers have said they refuse to leave unless they have assurances they would not face charges.

More vehicles are approaching the refuge, the occupiers are saying.

They broke through our barricades, they object.

Fiore – who appears to be acting as a curious mixture of negotiator and cheerleader – tells the occupiers that they are engaged in a battle to take America back.

She is being driven to the refuge now, in a journey expected to take around four hours.

Fiore says her cellphone signal might drop as they drive through mountains, but says the FBI will not act while the signal is down (we don’t have confirmation of that alleged agreement from the FBI).

“In order to stay alive, I have to submit and be a slave,” Sean Anderson shouts. He compares himself to Braveheart.

“I’m not asking you to give up,” Fiore tells him.

Associated Press has further background information on two of the occupiers, husband and wife Sean and Sandy Anderson:

The husband and wife moved from the town of Janesville, Wisconsin, within the last several years to Riggins, Idaho, where Sean, 47, opened a store for hunting, tactical and survival gear. Sandy, 48, worked at a gas station.

Idaho County, where they live, and Harney County, 290 miles away where the refuge is located, are similar in many ways. Both have large portions of land managed by federal agencies and populations chafing at restrictions put on that land.

Idaho county sheriff Doug Giddings said the Andersons are good residents, though he didn’t know as much about Sean as he did about Sandy.

“She’s a good person, she’s just upset with the government,” he told Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Sean Anderson is facing misdemeanor charges in Wisconsin for resisting an officer, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of THC, the intoxicating chemical in marijuana.

He also has pleaded guilty to a series of misdemeanors in recent years: domestic abuse in December 2010, disorderly conduct in 2008, criminal trespass in a dwelling in 2002, and disorderly conduct in 1999.

A friend of the couple, Lindsey Dipo, told the Lewiston Tribune newspaper that the couple recorded their will on Dipo’s cellphone before departing for Oregon.