Aug 21, 2019 · The Siege at Ruby Ridge is often considered a pivotal date in American history. The shootout between Randy Weaver and his family and federal agents on August 21, 1992, is one that kicked off the Constitutional Militia Movement and left America with a deep distrust of its leadership – in particular then-President George H.W. Bush and eventual President Bill Clinton …
Jan 05, 2016 · Attorney General Janet Reno made the decision to tear-gas the Branch Davidian compound based in part on reports that children were being abused by Koresh and the Davidians during the siege.
The Siege at Ruby Ridge is often considered a pivotal date in American history. The shootout between Randy Weaver and his family and federal agents on August 21, 1992, is one that kicked off the Constitutional Militia Movement and left America with a deep distrust of its leadership – in particular then-President George H.W. Bush and eventual President Bill Clinton and Attorney …
May 22, 2018 · An initial exchange of fire left Weaver’s 14-year-old son and a U.S. marshal dead. Federal authorities then laid siege to Weaver’s cabin for 11 days, during which an FBI sniper wounded Weaver ...
And the decision to end the siege at Waco — provoking the lethal fire — was largely made because the FBI felt that taking decisive action would make the agency look strong.
One of those right-wing activists particularly angry about the federal government's actions at Waco was Timothy McVeigh — who, on April 19, 1995, bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma.
Unlike the Ruby Ridge standoff, however, it didn't end with the surrender of the people under siege. Instead, when the FBI tried to end the siege after 51 days by aggressively tear-gassing the Branch Davidian compound, the Davidians set fires that killed more than 80 people, including 22 children.
Attorney General Janet Reno made the decision to tear-gas the Branch Davidian compound based in part on reports that children were being abused by Koresh and the Davidians during the siege. Those reports came from the FBI — presumably from an agent who knew that fighting child abuse was one of Reno's priorities. But they didn't come from the FBI director — he knew the reports to be false.
But based on what we know about both standoffs 20 years later, it's fair to say that the federal government's aggressive response to Weaver and Koresh probably led to the deaths of people who hadn't committed crimes and who did not need to die. In both cases, the federal government made key decisions based on data that was just plain wrong.
With one hand, the federal government responded to the Oklahoma City bombing by passing the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (the same law that, 20 years later, would help spark the occupation in Oregon) — but with the other, it was quietly changing the way the FBI responded to standoffs with right-wing militia groups.
US marshals who were monitoring Weaver and his family ultimately got into a firefight with Weaver, a friend, and Weaver's 14-year-old son, resulting in the death of both the marshal and the 14-year-old. The gunfight prompted an 11-day standoff before Weaver and his friend surrendered.
The shootout between Randy Weaver and his family and federal agents on August 21, 1992, is one that kicked off the Constitutional Militia Movement and left America with a deep distrust of its leadership – in particular then-President ...
He organized former attorney generals and others to help defend Horiuchi, and he helped frame legal documents in their appeal to the Ninth Circuit. Barr's attempt was a success, and Prosecutor Benson dismissed all charges against Horiuchi. Benson later resigned due to charges of forgery and falsifying documents.
Specifically for his beliefs, Randy Weaver was targeted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in an entrapping “sting” operation designed to gain his cooperation as a snitch.
The land was purchased for $5,000 in cash and the trade of the truck they used to move there. Vicki homeschooled the children.
The short version is this: Randy Weaver and his wife Vicki moved with their four kids to the Idaho Panhandle, near the Canadian border, to escape what they thought was an increasingly corrupt world. The Weavers held racial separatist beliefs, but were not involved in any violent activity or rhetoric. They were peaceful Christians who simply wanted to be left alone.
Preferring not to use the FBI to investigate allegations against the bureau, the U.S. Senate requested that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service handle the internal investigation. The postal inspectors found that the federal government took active steps to cover their tracks after the Siege of Ruby Ridge.
However, he dropped out because the tuition was too expensive. He ended up working in a John Deere plant while his wife worked as a secretary before becoming a homemaker.
Randy and his daughter Sara Weaver wrote The Federal Siege at Ruby Ridge (1998), about the incident, which was published in paperback. (The appendix of the book includes the 1995 Report on the U.S. Senate Ruby Ridge Hearing.) The Weaver family, including Randy, later moved to Kalispell, Montana.
The Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information held fourteen days of hearings on these incidents and allegations of misconduct, ending on October 19, 1995.
Horiuchi, was moved to federal court, which has jurisdiction over federal agents. It was dismissed because of the supremacy clause.
Bill Kurtis hosts. PBS American Experience: "Ruby Ridge", episode S29E07, February 14, 2017.
Ruby Ridge was the subject of Criminal Minds, Season Three, Episode entitled "Identity" (2007). Agent David Rossi says that he was at Ruby Ridge during the siege. In 2017, it was the focus of the 323rd episode of American Experience, the 5th episode of its 29th season .
On August 22, the second day of the siege, between 2:30–3:30 pm, the FBI HRT sniper/observer teams were briefed and deployed to the cabin on foot. According to the RRTF report to the DOJ, there were various views and interpretations taken of these ROEs by members of FBI SWAT teams in action at the Ruby Ridge site.
By Saturday, August 22, special rules of engagement (ROE) were drafted and approved by FBI Headquarters and the Marshal Service for use on Ruby Ridge. According to the later RRTF report to the DOJ (1994), the Ruby Ridge ROE were as follows:
The Waco Siege hardened McVeigh’s position. McVeigh reacted even more strongly to federal authorities’ handling of a 51-day standoff with members of the Branch Davidian religious sect near Waco, Texas. Like Ruby Ridge, the Waco siege began with an ATF raid; it ended in a fire that killed around 75 members of the millennial sect in April 1993.
Ruby Ridge unsettled McVeigh and others with anti-government views. Then came the notorious Ruby Ridge standoff of August 1992, when U.S. marshals attempted to apprehend a man named Randy Weaver at his family’s remote hillside cabin in northern Idaho.
How Ruby Ridge and Waco Led to the Oklahoma City Bombing. During his adolescence in upstate New York, Timothy McVeigh developed an enthusiasm for guns and a suspicion of governmental authority. But this was only the beginning of McVeigh’s anti-government stance. During his adolescence in upstate New York, Timothy McVeigh developed an enthusiasm ...
Before he was executed in 2001, McVeigh made it clear that he intended the bombing as retribution for the deaths at Waco and Ruby Ridge , and had deliberately planned the bombing to take place on the second anniversary of the Waco disaster.
Federal authorities then laid siege to Weaver’s cabin for 11 days, during which an FBI sniper wounded Weaver and family friend Kevin Harris and killed Weaver’s wife, Vicki. McVeigh viewed Ruby Ridge as clear evidence that the U.S. government aimed to disarm the public and take away people’s Second Amendment rights.
The timing of the Oklahoma City bombing was no coincidence. On April 19, 1995 – exactly two years after the fiery conclusion of the botched Waco siege – McVeigh detonated explosives planted in a truck outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
But this was only the beginning of McVeigh’s anti-government stance. As a soldier in the U.S. Army, McVeigh won a medal for bravery in the Persian Gulf War, but after his discharge in 1991 he began frequenting gun shows and developed even stronger suspicions of the U.S. government. pinterest-pin-it.
Within a few hours of the incident, and at the request of ATF officials, the FBI dispatched trained negotiators to the scene in Waco. By that afternoon, the FBI , in cooperation with the ATF and Department of Treasury officials, had also sent in advance units of its elite Hostage Rescue Team. The next day (March 1, 1993), also at the request of Treasury Department officials, the FBI became the lead agency responsible for resolving the standoff with the Branch Davidians.
The typical narrative of this conspiracy scenario bizarrely maintains that Hillary Clinton held enough sway to issue the order for an assault on the Waco compound because White House counsel Vince Foster was her “longtime boyfriend” and “sexual partner,” while Associate Attorney General Webster (“Webb”) Hubbell was the real biological father of Clinton’s daughter Chelsea. This scenario even more bizarrely claims that Clinton’s putative motivation for issuing the order was that she was disgruntled over the Branch Davidian issue’s hogging all the headlines while she was working to craft a healthcare reform package:
The next day (March 1, 1993), also at the request of Treasury Department officials, the FBI became the lead agency responsible for resolving the standoff with the Branch Davidians. The Branch Davidians, an offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventists, strongly believed that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent, and that the end ...
Appearing on CNN’s Larry King Live, fmr. White House aide Linda Tripp suggested that Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster — at Mrs. Clinton’s direction — transmitted the order to move on the Branch Davidian compound, which culminated in a military style attack.
Tripp’s allegations lend weight to charges made previously by Special Forces expert and Waco investigator, Steve Barry — who claimed Hillary Clinton set up a special “crisis center” in the White House to deal with Waco.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) oversees the FBI, and the attorney general heads the DoJ. At the time of the Waco incident the attorney general was Janet Reno, who — after consulting with the President and FBI officials — gave the final approval for the assault on the compound (although the FBI maintained a great deal of leverage as the lead agency on the ground). A detailed Justice Department report described numerous FBI and Justice Department officials involved in the decision-making process that led up to the end of the siege — but made not a single mention of Hillary Clinton or Vince Foster:
When the FBI and other law enforcement agencies began their fateful 51-day standoff with a religious cult in Waco, Texas, known as the Branch Davidians on 28 February 1993 , Bill Clinton had just taken office as President a month earlier. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was the lead agency on the issue, directing law enforcement operations during the standoff that started on a Sunday when agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) attempted to serve an arrest warrant on the group’s leader, Vernon Howell (better known by an assumed name, David Koresh):
On August 22, the FBI, under the impression they were entering an active, unprovoked firefight against U.S. Marshals, arrived on Ruby Ridge.
It ended with the shooting deaths of a U.S. marshal, Weaver’s wife Vicki and their teenage son Samuel (Sammy).
Horiuchi placed Vicki Weaver and her children at risk by targeting the cabin door without knowing who was behind it.
When Weaver refused, he was indicted for making and keeping illegal weapons.
In 1984, Randy, Vicki and their children moved into a cabin they’d built themselves overlooking Ruby Creek in Idaho. By choice, they had no electricity or running water.
Ruby Ridge Aftermath. Lon Horiuchi. Sources. Ruby Ridge was the location of a violent 11-day standoff in remote Boundary County, Idaho, beginning on August 21, 1992. U.S. Marshals and federal agents faced off against Randy Weaver, his wife and five children and his friend Kevin Harris. The Ruby Ridge incident was the culmination of years ...
Deputy Marshal Dave Hunt and Deputy Marshal Art Roderick knew the rugged terrain surrounding Weaver’s property well and led the undercover team which included Marshal William (Billy) Degan.
Ruby Ridge was the site of an eleven-day siege in 1992 in Boundary County, Idaho, near Naples. It began on August 21, when deputies of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) initiated action to apprehend and arrest Randy Weaver under a bench warrant after his failure to appearon firearms charges. Given three conflicting dates for his court appearance, and suspecting a conspiracy against him, Weaver refused to surrender, and members of his immediate family, and family frie…
Ruby Ridge is the southernmost of four ridges that extend east from the Bottleneck/Roman Nose mountain range toward the Kootenai River. Caribou Ridge lies north of it, and the area between them drains into the Ruby Creek. Some local maps have identified Ruby Ridge as an extension of Caribou Ridge , but press reporting on the Weaver standoff used the federally recognized name. According to the Boundary County CourthouseAssessor's Office, both Ruby Ridge and Caribou Ri…
Randy Weaver, a former Iowa factory worker and U.S. Army Green Beret, moved with his wife and four children to northern Idaho during the 1980s so they could "home-school his children and escape what he and his wife Vicki saw as a corrupted world." In 1978, Vicki, the religious leader of the family, began to have recurrent dreams of living on a mountaintop and believed that the apocalypsewas imminent. After the birth of their son, Samuel, the Weavers began selling their b…
On August 21, 1992, six Marshals were sent to scout the area to determine suitable places away from the cabin to apprehend and arrest Weaver. The marshals, dressed in military camouflage, were equipped with night-vision goggles and M16 rifles. DUSMs Art Roderick, Larry Cooper, and William F. "Bill" Degan formed the reconnaissance team, while DUSMs David Hunt, Joseph Thomas, and Frank Norris formed an observation post (OP) team on the ridge north of the cabin.
In the aftermath of the gunfight on August 21 at 11:20 am PDT, DUSM Hunt requested immediate support from Idaho law enforcement, and he also alerted the FBI by notifying it that a Marshal had been killed. Following Hunt's phone call, the Marshals Service Crisis Center was activated under the direction of Duke Smith, associate director for Operations. The Marshals Service Special Operations Group (SOG) was alerted to deploy. In response to the USMS call, the Boundary Coun…
Weaver and Harris were charged with a variety of offenses; their trial in U.S. District Court in Boise began in April 1993, and was presided over by Judge Edward Lodge. Weaver's defense attorney, Gerry Spence, rested his case in mid-June without calling any witnesses for the defense, instead seeking to convince the jury through cross-examination aimed at discrediting government evidence and witnesses. Weaver was ultimately acquitted in July of all charges except missing h…
Defense counsels for Weaver and Harris alleged throughout their 1993 trial that agents of the ATF, USMS, and FBI were themselves guilty of serious wrongdoing. The Department of Justice (DOJ) created the Ruby Ridge Task Force (RRTF) to investigate events. It delivered a 542-page report on June 10, 1994, to the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). (This RRTF report, originally available in a highly redacted form, became available in a much more complete form. )
Randy Weaver and his daughters filed a wrongful death suit for $200 million which was related to the killing of his wife and son. In an out-of-court settlement in August 1995, the federal government awarded Randy Weaver $100,000 and it also awarded $1 million to each of his three daughters. The government did not admit that it had committed any wrongdoing in the deaths of Sammy and Vicki. On the condition of anonymity, a DOJ official told the Washington Post that h…