NATION
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Rulings could
shape Vegas trial
of 6 in Bundy
ranch standoff
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A
federal jury was sworn in
Tuesday for the trial of six
defendants accused of stop-
ping U.S. agents at gunpoint
from rounding up cattle near
Cliven Bundy’s ranch in
2014.
U.S. District Judge Gloria
Navarro scheduled opening
statements for Thursday,
giving attorneys and jurors a
day to prepare for trial.
The judge will also
consider crucial rulings
ahead of the trial focused on
six men characterized by the
prosecution as less-culpable
gunmen and followers.
Bundy, four sons and
six other men are due to
stand trial later this year. All
have pleaded not guilty to
conspiracy, assault, weapon
and other charges.
AGENT IN CHARGE
Several defense attorneys
are seeking dismissal of the
case, accusing the U.S. attor-
ney’s office of improperly
withholding
information
about Daniel Love, the
federal Bureau of Land
Management supervisor who
oversaw the Bundy cattle
roundup in April 2014.
Findings released last
week by the federal Interior
Department inspector general
faulted the supervisory agent
from Salt Lake City for
accepting tickets and trans-
portation at the Burning Man
festival in Nevada in 2015,
and for influencing the hiring
of a friend to the bureau.
The unnamed agent was
accused of trying to influence
employees not to cooperate
with the probe of his activ-
ities. The findings weren’t
final, but were referred to
higher-ups for possible disci-
plinary action.
Federal public defenders
representing one defen-
dant identify Love as the
head of the Bundy cattle
impoundment operation and
an important witness for the
prosecution.
They say they should
have been informed last year
about the allegations against
him.
Tom Pitaro, a Las Vegas
defense attorney with decades
of trial experience who isn’t
representing anyone in the
Bundy case, called it unlikely
that the disclosures about
Love would derail the trial.
“The reality is that
rarely happens,” Pitaro
said. “Dismissal is the most
extreme response.”
FBI FILM CREW
The judge ruled Monday
against one defendant’s bid
to prevent the government
from showing jurors an inter-
view he gave in the months
after the standoff to a film
crew from a company called
Longbow Productions.
Defense attorneys allege
that crew members said they
were making a documentary,
but the interviews were for
the FBI.
Cliven Bundy is among
other defendants seeking to
prevent the jury from seeing
his interview. He says that
witnesses were paid, tricked
and coached into making
incriminating statements.
A lawyer for another
defendant says he wants the
jury to see his interview,
because it will show his
client telling why he was at
the Bundy ranch.
Nancy
Rapoport,
a
professor at the University
of Nevada, Las Vegas, said
it will be up to the jury to
determine the credibility of
the witnesses and the value
of the evidence.
BREADTH OF FOCUS
Prosecutors have asked
the judge to narrow the focus
of the trial to the day of the
standoff, and to prohibit
defense teams from referring
to federal land policies in
Nevada and other states in
the West where the federal
government owns vast
swaths of rangeland.
Defense lawyers argue
that if the government hopes
to prove conspiracy, the jury
has to hear what the defen-
dants believe and why they
went to the Bundy ranch.
Pitaro called that a
common — and key —
courtroom fight.
“In every criminal case,
the prosecution tries to
narrow the focus only to the
act and what happened that
day,” he said. “The defense
always tries to expand it to
get into other areas.”
East Oregonian
Page 9A
DeVos ekes out confirmation win as Pence casts historic vote
WASHINGTON (AP) — Charter
school advocate Betsy DeVos won
confirmation as education secretary
Tuesday by the slimmest of margins,
pushed to approval only by the
historic tie-breaking vote of Vice
President Mike Pence.
Two Republicans, Susan Collins
of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of
Alaska, joined Democrats in a mara-
thon effort to derail the nomination
of the wealthy Republican donor.
The Senate historian said Pence’s
vote was the first by a vice president
to break a 50-50 tie on a Cabinet
nomination.
Despite the win, DeVos emerged
bruised from the highly divisive
nomination fight. Opposed by half
the Senate, she faced criticism, even
ridicule for lack of experience and
confusion during her confirmation
hearing. At one point, she said some
schools should have guns because of
the threat of grizzly bears.
And there has been scathing
opposition from teachers unions and
civil rights activists over her support
of charter schools and her conserva-
tive religious ideology.
President Donald Trump accused
Democrats of seeking to torpedo
education progress.
In a tweet before the vote, he
wrote, “Betsy DeVos is a reformer,
and she is going to be a great Educa-
tion Sec. for our kids!”
DeVos was sworn in hours after
the Senate vote by Pence, who told
the new Cabinet member: “I wasn’t
just voting for you. Having seen your
devotion to improving the quality
of education for some of our most
vulnerable children across the nation
for so many years, I was also casting
a vote for America’s children.”
“I can tell you, my vote for Betsy
DeVos was the easiest vote I ever
cast,” Pence said.
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Vice President Mike Pence swears in Education Secretary Betsy
DeVos in the White House complex Tuesday, as DeVos’ husband Dick
DeVos watches.
DeVos released a statement
promising to be “a tireless advocate
for all students.”
“Partnering with students, parents,
educators, state and local leaders,
Congress and all stakeholders, we
will improve education options and
outcomes across America,” she said.
She now takes the helm of a
department charged with imple-
menting laws affecting the nation’s
public schools with no direct experi-
ence with traditional public schools.
Her opponents noted that she has no
experience running public schools,
nor has she attended one or sent her
children to one
She also will have to address
several hot-button issues in higher
education, such as rising tuition
costs, growing student debt and the
troubled for-profit colleges, many
of which have closed down, leaving
students with huge loans and without
a good education or job prospects.
Close attention also will be paid
to how DeVos deals with sexual
assault and freedom of speech on
campuses.
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote,
emotions ran high as constituents
jammed senators’ phone lines.
Protesters gathered outside the
Capitol, including one person in
a grizzly bear costume to ridicule
DeVos.
Democrats and labor unions
vigorously fought the nomination,
suggesting that DeVos would
defund traditional public schools
by diverting taxpayers’ money to
charter and private institutions. They
cited her financial interest in organi-
zations pushing for charter schools,
though she has said she will divest
those interests.
Collins and Murkowski said they
feared her focus on charter schools
will undermine remote public
schools in their states.
“President Trump’s swamp
got a new billionaire today,” the
Democratic National Committee
said in a statement. “Millions of
teachers, parents and students could
not have made their opposition to
Betsy DeVos’ confirmation any
clearer — they do not want someone
whose only education experience is
dismantling public schools.”
DeVos supporters, however, saw
her confirmation as an occasion
to breathe new life into a troubled
American school system and a
chance to shift power from Wash-
ington to the local level.
“She has been a leader in the
movement for public charter schools
— the most successful reform of
public education during the last 30
years,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander,
the chairman of the Education
Committee. “And she has worked
tirelessly to help low-income chil-
dren have more choices of better
schools.”
DeVos has her work cut out.
“She will have to make it a
priority to reach out to educators and
education policy makers to reassure
them that she is committed to
working to improve education for all
students including the vast majority
who attend and will continue to
attend traditional public schools,”
said Martin West, associate professor
of education at Harvard University.
“My view is that she is committed to
doing that.”
In addition to DeVos, Repub-
licans hope to confirm a series
of other divisive nominees this
week: Alabama Republican Sen.
Jeff Sessions as attorney general,
GOP Rep. Tom Price of Georgia as
health secretary and financier Steven
Mnuchin as treasury secretary.
First lady says high profile could mean millions for her brand
WASHINGTON (AP) —
First lady Melania Trump
has said little about what
she intends to do with her
prominent position. But in
new court documents, her
lawyers say that the “multi-
year term” during which
she “is one of the most
photographed women in the
world” could mean millions
of dollars for her personal
brand.
While the new documents
don’t specifically mention
her term as first lady, the
unusual statement about
her expected income drew
swift condemnation from
ethics watchdogs as inap-
propriate profiteering from
her high-profile position,
which is typically centered
on public service.
The statement came
Monday in a libel lawsuit the
first lady re-filed in a state
trial court in Manhattan.
Mrs. Trump has been
suing the corporation that
publishes the Daily Mail’s
website over a now-retracted
report that claimed she once
worked as an escort. In the
filing Monday, Mrs. Trump’s
lawyers argued that the
report was not only false and
libelous, but also damaged
her ability to profit off her
high profile and affected her
business opportunities.
Mrs. Trump “had the
unique, once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity, as an extremely
famous and well-known
person, as well as a former
professional model, brand
spokesperson and successful
businesswoman, to launch
a broad-based commercial
brand in multiple product
categories, each of which
could
have
garnered
multi-million dollar business
relationships” the filing read.