Trump Campaign Official Arrested On Federal Charges Linked To Bundy Ranch

FBI agents arrested Jerry DeLemus, co-chair of Veterans for Trump in New Hampshire, on Thursday following his indictment in connection with the 2014 Bundy Ranch standoff in Nevada, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported.

Federal charges against DeLemus included “conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, threatening a federal law enforcement officer, attempting to impede or injure a federal law enforcement officer and several firearms charges,” the newspaper reported.

Susan DeLemus, a state representative and fellow supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, confirmed her husband’s arrest to the newspaper. Trump announced that he was forming Veterans for Trump in July and named DeLemus among the co-chairs.

The standoff in Nevada two years ago came after federal officials said Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy allowed his cattle to graze on federal land for decades without paying grazing fees. Bundy invited hundreds of followers, many of them armed, to his ranch to push back against federal officers who were impounding his cattle.

The event resurfaced in headlines this year when Bundy’s sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, organized a standoff of their own at a federal wildlife refuge in rural Oregon. DeLemus traveled to Oregon to visit their occupation and called their cause “peaceful” and “constitutionally just.”

DeLemus told Reuters at the time that he wanted to tell Trump “the whole story” of the Oregon occupation, adding that he expected the story would “arouse” the real estate mogul and inspire him to head West. The standoff lasted for 41 days and resulted in several arrests and the death of one militant in a confrontation with police. Trump never visited the refuge, but did say that he would have acted to end the standoff because “you cannot let people take over federal property.”

Susan DeLemus also spent time in the media spotlight recently for defending Trump against Pope Francis, whom she called the “anti-Christ.” She later told Politico that she was referring to the papacy, not Francis in particular.