While there was no official word of any deal, a man who met with the Freemen says they are under the impression that some charges against them will be dropped if they give up within 24 hours.
James "Bo" Gritz, a right-wing leader who has met with the Freemen several times, emerged from a meeting Tuesday saying the anti-government fugitives were "euphoric" and planned to make their next move Wednesday."If they come out within 24 hours, it's Monty Hall time," Gritz said, referring to the "Let's Make a Deal" TV game show host.
He returned to the ranch Wednesdaymorning, apparently for another meeting.
The U.S. attorney for Montana, Sherry Scheel Matteucci, said she had no comment on whether a deal to drop charges had been offered.
"At this moment, there's nothing I can tell you," Matteucci said Wednesday morning. "Hopefully, by the end of the day we'll have some sort of a statement."
Members of the Freemen group, whose compound has been surrounded by the FBI for more than five weeks, are wanted on state and federal charges ranging from writing bad checks to threatening to kidnap and kill a U.S. district judge.
Gritz said the Freemen believed that the state charges have been dismissed, and that charges in Utah and North Carolina against some of them, as well as some federal charges, will be dropped if they surrender within 24 hours. However, he said he doubted they would surrender.
Gritz's meeting came on the heels of a meeting the Freemen had Tuesday with Assistant Attorney General John Connor Jr. and Republican state Rep. Karl Ohs.
"Whatever happened up there with Connor, it caused these people to speak as if it was a party," Gritz said. "They're all euphoric."