The wife of maverick Nevada cattleman Cliven Bundy tells
Newsmax TV that federal authorities "have it out for us" in their roundup of more than a dozen men — including her husband and two sons — for a 2014 armed standoff over grazing rights on U.S. land.
In an exclusive interview Friday with "Dennis Michael Lynch: Unfiltered," Bundy matriarch Carol Bundy charges her family "embarrassed" federal authorities — and they have retaliated by instilling fear.
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"I think by their actions today they are trying to put the fear into the American people and make the American people afraid of our own government," she charges. "That is sad."
"They have it out for us," she tells host Dennis Michael Lynch. "After our standoff in 2014, we embarrassed them terrible. They are out to show us who's boss."
Authorities say
19 people from eight states now have been indicted and arrested in the standoff, with Cliven Bundy and two adult sons and five other men in federal custody following the end of a nearly six-week armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon.
They're accused of organizing an armed force for a standoff that thwarted a round-up of Bundy cattle from federal lands near Bunkerville, Nev.
"They need to realize that we're not the radical ones," Carol Bundy tells Newsmax TV. "The federal government has taken over every part of everybody's lives. They've taken over our education, they've taken over our health and welfare, they've come in and told us how we can run our ranch. … They don't have ownership of these lands and we just told them we no longer need your services we will manage our own ranch, our own way."
The matriarch is confident the family will prevail.
"My husband is a smart man, he raised some smart sons and they all married very smart women that believe in this cause and believe in freedom for America and we're hanging in there," she vows.
"We've always felt that freedom isn't free and we were willing to do whatever it takes to keep our way of life alive and to keep America free," she adds. "We will survive… [the] women can do the work. We'll just take our babies on our hips and we'll bring in the cows and … we'll get it done."
Carol Bundy maintains the family has a right to be where they are, doing what they have done for generations.
"The people need to understand that I have the right to use that land for my cattle," she says. "I am not stopping anybody else from using that land. I'm not abusing my cattle. … We got green grass growing and we're going to provide some good hamburgers and steaks for America."
And she has simple advice for those who sympathize with the family's fight.
"Bring it home," she tells Newsmax TV. "Teach your kids the Constitution. Teach your family the Constitution. Elect good sheriffs. Bring freedom back to America."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.