EMMETT, Idaho — A 100-paged report released Thursday accused Washington state Rep. Matthew Shea of domestic terrorism.
One of the conflicts mentioned in the report was the "Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Armed Takeover," which was led by Emmett resident, Ammon Bundy. Bundy said the report accusing Rep. Shea of domestic terrorism is inaccurate.
The report was written by the Rampart Group, independent investigators hired by the Washington State House. The report accused Rep. Shea of coordinating the "takeover" of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge with the Coalition of Western States and Bundy via phone in 2016.
Bundy said he talked with Shea multiple times on the phone, but never about planning a takeover.
"He had nothing to do with it," Bundy said. "It was about the Hammond's and what legal actions we could take, what we could do to get the legislatures to stand for him in the state of Oregon - that type of stuff, but as far as any planning and him being a part of it is just absolutely incorrect."
The report was done by the Rampart Group and also accuses Shea of being in Burns, Oregon for the takeover. Bundy claims that Shea was "nowhere even close" and said he imagined Shea was "in Washington, wherever he resides".
The report also accuses Idaho State Rep. Heather Scott of involvement in a separate matter from Shea's alleged acts of domestic terrorism.
According to the report, Rep. Scott posted an "urgent action alert" on social media, urging 'patriot movement' followers to travel to Bonner County, Idaho, where the U.S. Veteran's Association was planning to lawfully revoke a veteran of his registered firearms following a stroke.
"Those opponents of what we understand to be constitutional - what they're willing to do is use force and name-slander and label-lynching," Bundy said. "They're doing that so they can actually try us as either domestic terrorists or basically use the force of law upon us and it's a tactic that's really disgusting."
Bundy said the accusations on Rep. Shea are "100% incorrect, false."
"They've been able to get away with it because it's an independent report that has no accountability to a jury or a judge or to the rules of prosecution," Bundy added.
Bundy strongly disagrees with labeling anybody as a domestic terrorist, something he went on trial for in 2017.
"I've never hurt anyone in my life, it's not in me to do that," he said. "I love my community, I love where I live, and I know Matt Shea and Heather Scott are the same way, and to categorize us as terrorists, I think it's telling on where we're really at and how far these people are really willing to go to get their way and to force people to basically believe the way they want you to believe."
Amid Washington lawmakers asking him to step down, Shea posted on social media that the report is "a sham investigation" and "it's no coincidence that the report was released a day after the impeachment vote."
"These institutions just attack and destroy and demonize until they isolate that individual in a way that they can remove him or destroy him and it's just indicative to the real problem," Bundy said. "Who is going to rule this country? Is it going to be the people, or is it going to be the bureaucrats?"