Fbi Has Sit-Down Negotiations With Freemen Complex Talks Involve ‘Probably 30 Or 40 Major Issues,’ Says Mediator Charles Duke
Surrender talks with leaders of the anti-government freemen moved into a second day Friday, still with armed guards on both sides, but with negotiators seated this time.
The four freemen, two FBI agents and Colorado state Sen. Charles Duke stood in a steady drizzle throughout Thursday’s first meeting, ignoring three folding chairs the FBI brought. Friday the FBI set up seven chairs and a card table.
Later Friday, Duke said during a news conference at the FBI headquarters on the outskirts of Jordan that some progress was made, but “we’re not close enough that I can see the end yet.”
Another session was scheduled for Saturday.
He said the talks involve “probably 30 or 40 major issues,” and they are “horribly complex.”
At one point Friday, freeman Edwin Clark stood abruptly, stepped away from the table, folded his chair and turned away, but did not leave.
Duke said Clark was reacting to being “terribly wronged” but he would not give any details. “Ultimately, the whole story will come out, but right now it’s a sensitive issue,” Duke said.
Day 54 of the standoff opened with a 90-minute session at the same spot as Thursday’s meeting - on the muddy road at the entrance to the anti-government extremists’ 960-acre farm complex.
The table and chairs remained in place for an afternoon session, but when that meeting came Duke instead was taken into the freemen compound. The two FBI agents remained at the roadside parlay site.
The four freemen brought sheaves of papers to Friday morning’s meeting, and some were handed around at several points. In the final minutes, the FBI negotiators withdrew to their car while Duke spoke to the freemen alone.
Duke broke the negotiations stalemate Thursday by persuading the freemen to meet with the FBI for the first time since agents captured two of their leaders on March 25. He is a leader of the “patriot” movement in his state and a candidate for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.
Two freemen sentries stood guard nearby in a pickup truck again Friday, and a Montana Highway Patrol car was parked a few yards away on the other side of the parlay. More FBI agents sat in a car a few hundred yards back, and four more agents watched with binoculars from the hilltop half a mile away where reporters and photographers watched.
Duke said after Thursday’s session that he had not pressed the freemen to surrender immediately.
“We didn’t necessarily push for closure today, that’s for future meetings,” Duke said. He said it was too early to know if they could facilitate the freemen’s surrender.
The freemen, contend they are not subject to state or federal laws and subscribe only to their own interpretation of common law. They are believed to be heavily armed, and some are wanted on charges ranging from writing millions of dollars in worthless checks to threatening the murder of a federal judge.