Franklin Graham answered FBI’s call to save lives, he testifies during Oregon standoff trial

By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore. (TNS)

Friday, Sept. 30, 2016 | 2 a.m.

The Rev. Franklin Graham testified Thursday that he flew his own plane from North Carolina to Oregon in February to try to save lives, concerned about the four holdouts occupying a federal wildlife sanctuary as well as the FBI agents trying to get them to surrender.

With no formal training, Graham said he relied on God as he accepted the FBI's request late on Feb. 10 for him to get to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge immediately to help them. By then, he had been speaking to the holdouts daily, after first being called Jan. 28 by the FBI to intercede.

The prominent evangelist and son of the Rev. Billy Graham played a key role in negotiating the end of the 41-day standoff. He's president of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

After landing in Burns about 9 a.m. Feb. 11, federal agents ferried Graham in a federal armored vehicle to an access road overlooking the last occupiers' encampment and gave him a loudspeaker. Through sagebrush, he could see the top of the vehicle and tent where the four were huddled, he said.

"Guys I'm here. This is Franklin Graham," he said he began. "Listen to what the FBI is going to say to you. It's time to leave."

He told Jeffery Banta, David Fry and Sandra and Sean Anderson that he was going to give them a big hug when they emerged. He recounted how the Andersons came out together, holding each other's hands up in the air and clinging to an American flag. Banta came out, too. Graham said that he knelt with the three behind a van and prayed.

But then there was a long pause. An FBI agent told him Fry said on a phone call he wasn't going to surrender.

The armored vehicle moved about 100 yards to a higher vantage point. Graham continued to try to talk to Fry.

"David, I came all the way from North Carolina to meet you. We're here ... we love you," Graham said he told him.

At some point, he handed the phone to Sandy Anderson, despite the FBI's initial reluctance.

She continued to talk to Fry. "David, they have treated us with respect. We're safe. ... David, we're waiting on you. Please come out," Anderson said, according to Graham.

After another 30 minutes to an hour of tense talks, Fry finally did.

"I put my arms around him and hugged him and said David, you did the right thing," Graham recounted. "I'm proud of you."

Two FBI negotiators emerged from a vehicle, tears running down their faces, he said.

"They were just weeping uncontrollably, just so thankful to God no one was hurt," Graham said.

Graham testified that the four were afraid, distrustful of the FBI and concerned that they would be arrested and wouldn't be allowed to return home if they surrendered. The four "got left behind," he testified, somehow missing directions to leave the refuge after the Jan. 26 arrests of the occupation leaders and the fatal police shooting of occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicium.

Once Graham agreed to help out on Jan. 28, the FBI placed the first call on Feb. 3 and patched Graham in. The next call, the FBI did the same. But after that, Graham said he was allowed to make his own calls directly to the four remaining occupiers.

"This was a very tense situation. I wanted to help calm them," Graham said. "I wanted them to take a deep breath and I wanted the FBI to take a deep breath."

Graham called Banta's daughter and Fry's father to learn more about them and try to assure their relatives he was going to do what it took to make sure they were safe.

He described Banta as calm. He talked to Fry about spiritual issues dealing with the Old Testament and the Bible. He said he heard no talk of threats or intent to act out against government employees.

He ended each of his talks with prayers.

He prayed "that God would protect, guide and direct them."

Remembering the sieges in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas, Graham testified that he knew one mistake could cost lives.

"I was afraid for their life," Graham said. "If I could do something to save life -- whether it was theirs or the FBI's -- I wanted to do that."

About 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Feb. 10, Graham said the FBI called him. They told him they were putting the pressure on the last occupiers and hoped the takeover would be coming to an end. An agent asked him to call the four at the refuge encampment. When Graham did, Sean Anderson answered and Graham could hear a lot of yelling in the background directed at federal agents.

"I was trying to calm them down. It's time to come out," he said. "The FBI is not going to let you stay there indefinitely."

After he hung up with them, the FBI called Graham back and requested he come out to the refuge and offered to cover his airfare. Graham urged the federal agents to not move in on the four occupiers until he could arrive the next morning, Feb. 11. A pilot, Graham said he would fly himself but didn't want to land in Burns in the dark.

When defense lawyer Matthew Schindler asked if he had any formal training in hostage negotiations, Graham said no.

So, Schindler continued, what did he rely on to get him through this tense situation?

"God," Graham said. His response drew a loud "yes," from a woman in the court gallery.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Barrow said he had no questions for Graham.

"Thank you for your help resolving this situation," Barrow told him.

After Graham, who wore a dark suit, white dress shirt and blue tie, walked out of the courtroom, FBI agent Marc Maxwell — one of the negotiators with the final four — shook his hand and said, "Thank you for coming."

Banta later became the first defendant to take the witness stand Thursday. As the judge reminded him of his right to remain silent, he told her, "I have nothing to hide."

Banta said that he asked that Graham serve as a third-party negotiator because he had seen him on Facebook, traveling to and praying in front of different state capitols. "I thought that's what our country needs," Banta testified.

Banta became emotional as he discussed the surrender. Once he left the encampment, he said, he wanted to move away, aware that Fry was still not coming out.

"I wanted to leave. I didn't want to hear a gunshot," Banta testified, fighting back tears.

Banta, 47, said he came to the refuge on two visits, mainly to support the family of Harney County ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond, who had returned to prison to serve arson sentences for fires on public land. He was drawn to the refuge after watching Ammon Bundy describing the plight of the Hammonds on a video that his friend posted on Facebook. He didn't stay overnight at the refuge his first trip.

His second visit was on Jan. 25, the day before Finicum was shot and killed. He said he spoke to Ammon Bundy for two minutes, at most, during his stay. He said he was inspired to return to the refuge after seeing another video about ranchers not allowed to extinguish a U.S. Bureau of Land Management fire on their property.

Banta said he didn't know anyone at the refuge before he arrived and he didn't think that his presence there was illegal. If it had been, he said he figured law enforcement would have "nipped it in the bud right away."

During cross-examination, Banta conceded that he was involved in military-type training at the refuge, became part of the Bravo squad, fired a couple of rounds in target practice and did guard duty in the fire tower. He also said he brought his 12-gauge shotgun and an SKS-type rifle to the refuge and was aware that the refuge was a federal government facility.

During all his time at the refuge, Barrow asked Banta, "You never asked for the Hammonds' contact?" Banta had testified earlier that he had hoped to get to know Ammon Bundy, who could put him in contact with the Hammond family so he could work on their ranch.

"Does that seem strange to you?" Banta responded. "You guys arrested them before I had the chance."

After learning Finicum was killed by police, Banta said he decided to stay in solidarity with his new friend Duane Ehmer. "I figured if he wasn't going to go, I wasn't going to go either."

"I heard someone say, 'What about LaVoy? He died for nothing' — that resonated with me," Banta testified.

But Ehmer left the compound, the prosecutor noted. Banta said he stayed as days wore on out of "self-preservation."

"I guess I was involved at that point. Maybe afraid to leave," Banta testified. "I didn't feel comfortable the FBI would just let us out of there."

During the last two weeks, Banta said he believed the FBI was flying drones over the refuge and thought two men with long white beards who claimed they were past Navy Seals were "FBI plants." He said one had suggested "blowing the dike" and indicated he had friends who were going to parachute and be "dropped into the lake."

"He was crazy," Banta said.

Banta suggested that the men with white beards had damaged the refuge and were there "to make us all look bad." Banta also criticized the FBI negotiators as trying to manipulate him and testified that he believed several FBI employees are "Satan's puppets."

Referring to the Hammonds, he added,"We went there to help these people. It got nowhere. In fact, it got worse."

He said he wasn't trying to harm, threaten or impede anyone. "We were good people there to try to help good people."