'It was Antifa': Judge Carney grants bail for neo-Nazi leader Robert Rundo
The judge stayed the order for 96 hours in recognition of a 9th Circuit order that 'automatically' stays any release orders following a controversial case dismissal.
A federal judge on Tuesday granted bail for a neo-Nazi he believes the U.S. Department of Justice unconstitutionally prosecuted for violence at political rallies, but the order won’t take effect for four days to allow prosecutors to appeal.
U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in Santa Ana, California, heard testimony from two friends of Robert Paul Rundo about what happened during Rundo’s brief freedom in February, then concluded prosecutors haven’t shown Rundo was trying to flee to Mexico like they argue he was. He authorized Rundo to reside at a Salvation Army shelter in Anaheim where a director said he’s been approved for admission.
Carney stood by a 33-page tentative ruling distributed before the hearing that said “it was Antifa, a far-left extremist group, that posed the insidious threat to democracy” at the 2017 pro-Trump rallies where prosecutors say Rundo assaulted protestors.
“I really believe that my order, and the evidence that’s cited in the order, provides a complete record as to what happened at these three rallies, and specifically, that the real threat to democracy was Antifa,” the judge said. Carney said he hopes the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals factors in his reasoning when considering prosecutors’ appeal of his order dismissing Rundo’s charges.
Tuesday’s order recounts the recent history of Rundo’s case and calls the government’s conduct “quite troubling.”
“The government just does not seem to care about the Constitution. Well I do,” Carney wrote.
The order drew a rare response from Martin Estrada, the top U.S. attorney for the Los Angeles-based Central District of California, who had until Tuesday not commented on Carney’s stance that the DOJ not only unconstitutionally prosecuted Rundo, but arrested him without probable cause after the judge dismissed his charges in February.
“As federal prosecutors, we do everything we can to protect our community, and we do so ethically and in conformity with the Constitution. Indeed, we are sworn to uphold the Constitution, and all our actions are guided by this sacred oath,” Estrada said in a written statement. “We fully believe that we have abided by these important principles in this matter.”
During Tuesday’s two-hour hearing, Carney said he doesn’t believe an Orange County jury will convict Rundo or his co-defendants of conspiring to assault protestors when the men were focused on Antifa assailants “who were determined to hurt and injure innocent people.”
Carney said he’s been a judge and lawyer in Orange County for 36 years “and my sense is that Orange County people do not like Antifa.”
“My sense is Orange County people do not like Antifa demeaning disabled veterans. They do not like them desecrating our flag. They do not like them pepper-spraying middle-aged women,” Carney said.
He also cited his judicial experience with Chinese spies, Islamic terrorists, the Mexican Mafia and the Aryan Brotherhood and said Rundo doesn’t compare.
“I understand international, dangerous people, and with all due respect to Mr. Rundo, he was a knucklehead who was misguided,” Carney said, referring to Rundo’s criminal history, which includes a 2010 conviction for attempted gang assault in Queens, New York.
The judge directed Rundo’s federal defenders to file his order with the 9th Circuit, in part because he stayed it for 96 hours to comply with a recent 9th Circuit order.
“I think it’s important that the 9th Circuit know and realize that I complied with their order to stay Mr. Rundo’s release, despite my strong feelings that he should be released immediately,” Carney said, calling himself “a firm believer in the rule of law.”
It’s unclear if Carney’s stay was needed: The 9th’s March 13 order said any release order for Rundo “shall be automatically stayed for 96 hours,” which indicates a stay would have been in place via that order as soon as Carney authorized Rundo’s release.
The appellate panel of Senior Judge Richard A. Paez, Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. and U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar issued it following a busy three weeks of filings and hearings related to Rundo’s release in February, which occurred after Carney declined to stay his order dismissing Rundo’s charges. The judge said then that he didn’t want Rundo to spend “another minute in custody” because the DOJ selectively prosecuted him based of his political beliefs while ignoring worse conduct by left-wing group such as Antifa.
The selective prosecution argument was first raised by Rundo’s federal defenders in a dismissal motion filed in January. They previously won a dismissal order from Carney that said the federal Anti-Rioting Act under which Rundo was being prosecuted violates the First Amendment, but the 9th Circuit overturned it and Rundo’s charges were reinstated.
Rundo was extradited from Romania in August 2023. Prosecutors in a recent filing included copies of identification cards under the names Pavic Roman and Marko Rodic that Romanian police found with Rundo, according to an FBI agent’s declaration, as well as a copy of a passport for Robert Lazar Pavic with a birthdate and passport number that don’t belong to Rundo.
Prosecutors cited the IDs and passport in their 30-page opposition to Rundo’s bail motion. They also included screenshots from Rundo’s Telegram account in which he shared an article headlined “California White Supremacist Robert Rundo Hunted By Police in Europe” about European officials and wrote, “How’s that hunt going ???”
Deixler said Tuesday that Rundo left the United States after the 2019 dismissal “as a completely free person.”
“He has continued to be, I would say, harassed and stalked by law enforcement, by media,” she said. Rundo sought political asylum in Romania “because he feared that he was being persecuted for his political beliefs.”
“That’s important context in terms of why he challenged extradition,” Deixler said.
Prosecutors in their April 12 opposition brief said after Rundo’s Feb. 22 arrest “an FBI source subsequently provided insight into defendant’s motivations for traveling toward the southern border,” including statements from people identified as B.H. and G.M.
When Deixler told Carney that the DOJ won’t identify the FBI source or confirm the identities of B.H. and G.M., the judge replied, “Doesn’t sound like America to me.”
“There is no evidence that he was seeking a bus ticket, a plane ticket, any other type of transportation. The only evidence that the government has is that he went to San Diego, which is north of the Mexican border, then was actually arrested even further north of San Diego,” said Deixler, who was joined Tuesday by Federal Deputy Defender Caroline Platt.
Deixler believes G.M. is Rundo’s friend Grady Mayfield, who testified on Tuesday about picking up Rundo from jail after Carney dismissed his charges in February.
He said they grabbed snacks at gas stations, stopped at a CVS in Mayfield’s hometown of Mira Mesa in San Diego County, visited a Marshalls department store and ate at a Mexican restaurant before going to friend Robert Weldon’s home in Escondido where Rundo stayed the night.
Mayfield said he met Rundo and Weldon the next day at a building that Weldon was renovating, and they again ate at a Mexican restaurant then set Rundo up with a cot and blankets. Deixler called Mayfield trying to reach Rundo, and Mayfield testified he “did sort of get the impression that things were very serious.”
When Rundo learned he needed to turn himself in, “emotions were pretty low.”
“It was kind of a defeated feeling,” Mayfield said Tuesday. He said Rundo said “I’m going to have to turn myself in. Let’s go grab a drink or something.” He said they were en route to do so when police stopped them.
“Did you have any plan to take Mr. Rundo to the Mexican border that day?” Deixler asked.
“No,” Mayfield answered.
“After Feb. 22, did you tell any person that you planned to take Mr. Rundo to the Mexican border?” Deixler asked.
“No,” Mayfield answered.
In cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Solomon Kim asked Mayfield if he’s Rundo’s God son.
“In the Serbian Orthodox Church, it’s the equivalent,” Mayfield answered.
Kim questioned Mayfield about his wilingness to lie for Rundo, and he asked about their actiites at the builidng where Rundo was to stay. It was leased by Robert Weldon, who also testified Tuesday about his contacts with Rundo on Feb. 21 and Feb. 22.
Rundo stayed at Weldon’s home in Escondido Feb. 21, but Weldon testified he moved him to the building the next day after learning of a possible arrest warrant.
“I did not want a warrant executed at my home with my wife and daughter there,” he testified.
Weldon testified in cross that he met Rundo through “social media” and worked on projects together “like athletic montages and whatnot.” (Prosecutors have described Rundo’s Rise Above Movement group as “a combat-ready clan of extremists.”)
Kim asked if Weldon met Rundo through the Rise Above Movement and he said he dind’t believe that was relevant. Deixler objected for relevancy but Carney overruled, and Weldon told Kim he couldn’t remember.
Kim asked if the “athletic montages” related to “a group called the SoCal Active Club,” which the Anti-Defamation League describes as a white supremacist mixed martial arts group inspired by Rundo’s Rise Above Movement.
“No,” Weldon answered.
“Nothing at all?” Kim asked.
“Not that I remember,” Weldon answered.
Kim asked Weldon about photographing a car that was following him and sending the photos to Rundo.
“You were not helping him flee, but you were sending him photographs of what you believe to be law enforcement surveillance?” Kim asked.
“Yeah. Thought it was kind of weird,” Weldon answered.
“And that's not assisting him in any way to flee?” Kim asked
“No,” Weldon answered.
Carney’s release order on Tuesday includes additional photos from the three 2017 rallies beyond the eight he included in his February dismissal order.
He referenced them in court on Tuesday before asking Kim, “Do you really think you’re going to get 12 people in Orange County to unanimously agree that Mr. Rundo and three other people conspired to commit violence against innocent counter protesters?”
“We do, Your Honor. And I think that’s some of the evidence that we tried to highlight in the most recent briefing,” Kim answered. He said the case “is not about the conduct that occurred just simply at these rallies.”
“This conduct and this conspiracy began before these rallies, and it’s baked into the ethos and the principles of this organization that the defendant started,” said Kim, who was joined by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Takla and Kathrynne Seiden.
“You’re ignoring Antifa,” Carney said. He said Rundo’s group’s “little mantra” indicates “do not go after innocent counter protesters. Go after Antifa.”
“This is actually relevant to the bail hearing. I have to consider the nature of the offense. And even though it’s the least important factor, I have to consider the weight of the evidence,” the judge continued.
He distinguished Rundo’s behavior from what happened at the deadly rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, which he called “a horrible incident.”
“Those people who committed that violence and as I understand it, the real deranged person who rammed his car into an innocent counter protester, he wasn’t affiliated with RAM,” Carney said. “This case is the three rallies we’re talking about, and the real bad guy and the threat to democracy that’s very upsetting to me, as well as the former speaker Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Berkeley, is Antifa.”
Kim said saying Rundo’s conduct was just a couple of fist fights is “a gross mischaracterization.”
Carney said his review of videos shows Rundo was “punching like a feather” — he cautioned he meant no offense to Rundo — because “he was struggling with the pepper spray that was in his eyes.”
“Then the guy that he was punching immediately got up and ran away. So where is the evidence?” Carney said. “I’m not saying there is no evidence. I just haven’t seen it. Where is the evidence of anyone actually being hurt?”
The judge said he knows Rundo may be a flight risk, but the standard for bail doesn’t require a total guarantee of appearance, only that conditions are in place to reasonably assure it.
Here are the release conditions:
I’ll keep an eye out for the DOJ seeking a stay from the 9th Circuit within the next 96 hours, beyond the automatic stay the 9th authorized last month. The panel that’s on the case set an expedited briefing schedule, and prosecutors filed their 76-page opening brief on April 22. Rundo’s lawyer’s opposition is due on May 22, and prosecutors’ optional reply is due June 10.
Oral argument is scheduled June 18 in Pasadena.
Previous coverage:
Feb. 29: 9th Circuit rejects Rundo's release request amid another discharge order from Judge Carney
March 14: 9th Circuit stays future release orders for neo-Nazi Robert Rundo amid dismissal appeal
April 4: Judge cites Antifa when rejecting prison for white supremacist’s former associate
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