Right-wing militant Ammon Bundy, who led an armed takeover of public lands six years ago and recently lost a race to be governor of Idaho, vowed to confront anyone out to collect possible damages in a defamation and harassment lawsuit against him with a “shotgun.”
Bundy is currently ignoring the suit brought earlier this year by St. Luke’s Health System, the largest hospital organization in the state.
“They’re probably going to try to get judgments of over one million dollars and take everything [I] have from me,” Bundy told the conservative Idaho Dispatch in a video interview earlier this week.
Bundy vowed: “I’m not going to let that happen. I’m making moves to stop that from happening. If I have to meet ’em on the front door with my friends and a shotgun, I’ll do that. They’re not going to take my property.”
This Bundy episode began in March of this year when a 10 month-old grandson of a People’s Rights member, was taken to a hospital because of severe malnourishment. A doctor reported the case to Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare. The baby was returned to the parents. The parents agreed to an appointment which they did not keep. The parents refused to allow welfare check at their home for the baby. The family was found during a traffic stop, and the baby was taken back to the hospital, where he stayed for 3 days before being returned to the parents.
Meanwhile Bundy and his merry band of idiots …
During the baby’s hospital stay, Bundy and followers harassed staffers in an ambulance bay, leading to Bundy’s arrest for allegedly trespassing and resisting or obstructing officers. The People’s Rights Network campaign caused a security threat that sent the hospital into lockdown, during which it was unable to accept ambulances for an hour.
The Bundy network fabricated conspiracy theories about St. Luke’s and its staff, all while running fundraisers online, the hospital claims in its lawsuit. “These solicitations for charitable contributions were made based on defamatory statements about the St. Luke’s Parties and others kidnapping, trafficking, and killing children.” The online campaign falsely accused the hospital of vaccinating the baby against his parents’ wishes, and claimed the baby had been forced to take “toxic poison” and “possibly could lose his life because of the decisions of people [at St. Luke’s] who don’t even care” about him. The campaign also singled out St. Luke’s doctors, whom it falsely accused of mass kidnapping.
“They told their followers to target the same individuals for doxing and harassment. Defendants mirrored false statements across the websites and social media they controlled,” the lawsuit reads. “Defendants also organized a campaign of technological disruption. They encouraged their followers to flood St. Luke’s phone lines and email inboxes in an effort to shut down St. Luke’s operations. Defendants’ followers jammed phone lines with menacing calls (including death threats), sent threatening emails, and sent spam to disrupt servers.”
✱Bundy and the gang reportedly raised over $115,000 from the protests.
✱Bundy has skipped the lawsuit court appearances.
✱Bundy says he tosses all the legal papers and throws them in the garbage un-opened.
✱St. Luke’s is suing for $50,000, which they say they will donate to Children at Risk Evaluation Service.
