Rancher Cliven Bundy meets with Sen. Rand Paul

Cliven Bundy, the rancher who made headlines last year for not paying the $1 million in fines he owed to the Bureau of Land Management for letting his cattle graze on government-owned land, met privately with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday, Bundy says, adding that he educated Paul on federal land oversight and states' rights.

"I don't think he really understood how land rights really work in the western United States," he told Politico. "I was happy to be able to sort of teach him." The Republican presidential candidate was in Mesquite, Nevada, to speak with supporters, and he shared his thoughts on land rights. "I think almost all land-use issues and animal issues, endangered species issues, ought to be handled at the state level," Paul said. "I think that the government shouldn't interfere with state decisions, so if a state decides to have medical marijuana or something like that, it should be respected as a state decision."

Bundy said he spoke with Paul for 45 minutes — Paul's spokesman told Politico he didn't have any scheduled meetings with any of the attendees, and didn't speak to anyone for 45 minutes — and disagreed with Paul over the actions of groups like American Lands Council, which uses litigation and legislation to get land from the federal government to give to states. "My stand is we are already a sovereign state," he said. "The federal government doesn't need to turn this land back to us. It's already state land."

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Bundy became a conservative hero after the BLM came to impound his cattle as penalty for not paying the grazing fees, and hundreds of armed militia members came to his ranch to show their support. The tide turned after he made derogatory statements about "the negro," alluding that black people might have been better off under slavery. Once those comments were made public, former supporter Paul released a statement saying Bundy's "remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him."