https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-charged-lyingAn FBI special agent lied about his involvement in the fatal shooting of a protester who helped lead an armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge, according to a federal indictment on obstruction of justice charges.
A grand jury in Portland has charged W Joseph Astarita with three counts of making false statements, alleging that he lied when he claimed he did not fire his weapon during the attempted arrest of LaVoy Finicum, a key figure in the Oregon militia standoff at the Malheur national wildlife refuge in 2016.
The charges, revealed in federal court records on Wednesday, raise fresh questions about the death of Finicum and the FBI’s response to the high-profile protest in rural eastern Oregon, which was led by ranchers and rightwing activists, who seized federal property to protest government land regulations.
You know, I was always pretty skeptical of the rationale those protesters used in taking over that wildlife refuge that had nothing to do with BLM policies they were supposedly so concerned about. Sure, they were armed, but at the end of the day, they were peaceful protesters. Never once did they fire their weapons nor threaten anyone nor assault anyone in an aggravated manner.
So for the FBI and Oregon State Police to straight up ambush them like that at that road-block, then straight up assassinate that Finicum dude when he was just spinning around disoriented in the snow, not even reaching for his gun, well... that was pretty low-ball, even for the FBI.
Sounds like at least that one FBI special agent felt guilty about it, hence why he lied about having discharged his weapon at all.
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Originally Posted by alismith
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