FBI Arrests Blogger Gary Hunt For Divulging Informants’ Names

Gary Hunt, 71, of Los Molinos, California, was released from the Sacramento County Jail late last week after promising U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown of Oregon that he will show up for a civil contempt hearing in her Portland courtroom on May 9.

The federal judge, who presided over recently concluded trials of defendants charged with federal crimes for last  year’s takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, issued an arrest warrant for Hunt when he failed to show up for a show-cause hearing March 10 in Portland.

Hunt briefly visited the refuge during the 41-day occupation, but was not among those indicted on federal criminal charges. He was, however, a member of the advisory board for Operation Mutual Defense, a network of militia groups and individuals linked to the illegal occupation.

Hunt wrote extensively on his blog about the occupation and identified several militia-infiltrators he claimed were actually working as FBI informants. 

Then, Hunt found himself facing civil-contempt charges after federal prosecutors asked the court to compel him to remove from his blog the names of the individuals.  When he refused to even respond to the court, prosecutors moved to have the judge find Hunt in civil contempt of court and jailed.

Federal authorities say they believe Hunt obtained FBI reports, detailing information about “confidential human sources,” that were conditionally released only to defense attorneys as “discovery material” prior to recent trials.

During those trials, the names of some FBI informants involved in the Malheur case were publicly divulged.

The judge issued the warrant giving the FBI and U.S. Marshals authority to arrest Hunt on the same day he failed to appear in a court in Portland. The order for the arrest warrants was filed under seal.

“The court … finds good cause to file under seal both this Order and the arrest warrant,” the judge said in her order that was unsealed after Hunt’s arrest.

“Throughout this case and in the factually-related matters that took place in Bunkerville, Nevada, in April 2014 that are the subject of ongoing criminal proceedings in the District of Nevada, there have been instances of individuals avoiding the execution of court orders and/or arrest by engaging in armed confrontations with law enforcement,” the judge wrote.

At a telephonic release hearing last Thursday, Hunt objected to being termed a “defendant” in court papers. When that word was deleted and substituted with “person,” he agreed to comply with release conditions and voluntarily show up in U.S. District Court in Portland on May 9.

Back home writing on his blog on Tuesday, Hunt sounded as defiant as ever.

“It was further determined that my appearance at the May 9 jurisdiction hearing would not be an admission to the jurisdiction of the Court,” Hunt wrote. He said he still intends to argue that the federal judge, based in the District of Oregon, has no jurisdiction over him because he lives in northern California.

“I will enter the courtroom under my conditions, as stated in writing,” Hunt wrote.

Ammon Bundy and six others were acquitted of federal conspiracy and related charges following a five-week trial that ended in October in Portland.  The judge accepted guilty pleas to felonies from 11 other defendants and misdemeanor pleas from three others.

After a second trial, a jury convicted four other defendants guilty of felonies. The judge, in a companion prosecution, found the defendants guilty of misdemeanors related to the Malheur occupation.