Who Are The Maudes, And Why Did Biden Try To Ruin Their Lives?

Posted • May 2, 2025: If you watched Donald Trump's cabinet meeting on Wednesday, you may have seen Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins hold up a photo of the Maude family of South Dakota. I'd heard a little bit about the fifth-generation ranching family before that, but I decided to learn more because I couldn't believe the story Rollins told about how the Joe Biden administration treated them. It's unbelievable. Or maybe it's not, given all we're learning about the last four years. —— Secretary Brooke Rollins @SecRollins: “Trump Admin is reversing Biden-era failures in 100 days! The U.S. Gov has dropped charges against the Maude family, victims of lawfare, & launched a USDA portal to protect farmers. Over-criminalization by the federal government is OVER. Regulation by prosecution is NO MORE!” —— So here's the full story. Charles and Heather Maude are a couple in their thirties who own a large ranch — Maude Hog and Cattle — in western South Dakota.

According to their website, the ranch has been a part of Charles' family since 1907. Charles himself has been a part of the business throughout his entire life, even receiving his very own cow as a gift before he was born. He purchased the ranch from his grandfather in 2002 and 2003. There's a lot more about what they do on their site, and I encourage you to check it out. It sounds like they're excellent stewards of the environment and use several sustainable practices that should be a lot more common in modern farming and agriculture, but that's a topic for another day. "We believe we borrow the land from our children, and make decisions daily with the hope of creating the opportunity for them to have a life in agriculture, should they so choose. Agriculture has always been focused on sustainability, and we strive to build and improve upon what our forefathers started to ensure our place remains a viable, productive farm and ranch for another century," their website reads.

Charles and Heather also have two young children, Lyle and Kennedy. Now, let's get into what the Biden administration did to these poor people that nearly caused them to lose those young children. I'll let the Tri-State Livestock News explain (and I dare you not to get angry): “According to a June, 2024 letter from South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds to then U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, on March 29, 2024, special agent Travis Lunders and U.S. Forest Service patrol captain Jeff Summers told the Maudes they received a complaint from a hunter that a no trespassing sign was posted on a fence not built upon the correct boundary. The Maudes removed the sign from the fence. The family has owned the property adjacent to the U.S. Forest Service-managed Buffalo Gap National Grasslands since 1910. The fence assumed to be in question was accepted as the property boundary by the USDA annually through the certification of acres by the USDA Farm Service Agency every year since Buffalo Gap National Grasslands was established in 1960.”

“The Maudes met on May 1 with Lunders and USFS district ranger Julie Wheeler. The conclusion reached that day was a land survey would be the first step, and that would take up to a year according to Wheeler. The Maudes scheduled a meeting at the allotment so Wheeler could see the fence and move toward a resolution. Five days later, without informing Maudes, Lunders arrived with a survey crew to complete the survey on both the Maudes’ private property and the public property. Neither the survey nor the original complaint allegedly made by a hunter has been made available to the press or to Maudes. Lunders arrived unannounced at the Maudes’ home on June 24, 2024, armed and in tactical gear, to serve the couple with separate federal indictments. The indictments were for the alleged theft of government property stemming from the placement of a fence built at least 75 years before. The Maudes each faced 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines over the 50 acres in question and were ordered not to speak to one another about the case.”

Is that not the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? Earlier this week, the Trump administration dropped the charges, and the United States Department of Agriculture issued a statement that said, in part, "This family has endured a senseless politically motivated prosecution waged by the Biden Administration over 25 acres of federal land. Government resources for prosecution should be focused on true criminals, not a family farm trying to make ends meet." (…)

• More at: PJ Media - Who Are the Maudes, and Why Did Biden Try to Ruin Their Lives?
https://pjmedia.com/sarah-anderson/2025/05/01/who-are-the-maudes-and-what-did-biden-do-to-them-n4939406