Armed man arrested outside Trump rally as possible ‘assassination attempt’ thwarted

Police at Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday in Coachella Valley, California, stopped what a sheriff suggested might have been a third assassination attempt against the former president.

Deputies stopped suspect Vem Miller in a black SUV around 5pm about half a mile from the rally, after he allegedly managed to make it through an initial security checkpoint by claiming VIP and media credentials.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said at a press conference on Sunday that at a second stop, a deputy noticed that Miller’s SUV was in “disarray” with an “obviously fake” license plate, prompting deputies to investigate further.

Police then found that Miller allegedly had multiple drivers licenses and passports with different names and possessed a loaded handgun and shotgun, both unregistered. Sheriff Bianco said the markings on the license plate indicated Miller was part of “a group of individuals that claim to be ‘sovereign citizens,’” a right-wing movement that doesn’t believe in the legitimacy of the government.

Miller was described in a police press release as a 49-year-old resident of Las Vegas.

“Miller was taken into custody without incident and later booked at the John J. Benoit Detention Center for possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine,” the sheriff’s office said in the release. “This incident did not impact the safety of former President Trump or attendees of the event.”

The 49-year-old told Southern California News Group he was “shocked” to hear the arrest being described as an assassination plot and denied he was there to harm Trump, telling the outlet he’s a supporter of the former president.

“These accusations are complete bull****,” Miller said. “I’m an artist, I’m the last person that would cause any violence and harm to anybody.”

Sources close to the Trump campaign told Fox News there had been no assassination attempt at the Coachella rally.

The Riverside sheriff pushed back against these denials, saying Sunday he doesn’t “know how else to explain it” other than a likely assassination plot by a “lunatic.” “What we do know is he showed up with multiple passports with different names, an unregistered vehicle with a fake license plate, and loaded firearms,” Bianco said at a press conference. “If you’re asking me right now, I probably did have deputies that did prevent the third assassination attempt.”

The sheriff added that his department’s investigation of Miller is likely near its end, and that any future charges would likely come from federal officials.

Social media belonging to a Vem Miller of Las Vegas shows as man posing for selfies with MAGA and conservative figures including Steve Bannon, Steven Miller, Russell Brand, Robert F Kennedy Jr and Newt Gingrich. A self-filmed video shows the same man at the Republican National Convention, describing “good people, good times”, and coming close to Donald Trump Jr as he walks past.

The same man appears to have run for a position as an assembleyman in Las Vegas in 2022. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, this Vem Miller was running as a Republican and was concerned with issues of voter fraud and was involved in an ongoing lawsuit claiming he and others had not been allowed to observe vote-counting. The paper also said he was in favor of solar energy projects and wanted to bring more electric car manufacturing to Nevada. He appears not to have won the election, however.

The man arrested near the Trump rally this weekend was released Saturday on $5,000 bail and is scheduled to appear is scheduled to appear at the Indio Larson Justice Center in early January, according to the local Press Enterprise newspaper.

The arrest marks the third threatening incident involving an armed man near the Republican candidate.

In September, a federal grand jury in Florida charged Ryan Wesley Routh with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump.

Routh, 58, allegedly camped outside the former president’s West Palm Beach golf course with a high-powered SKS-style assault rifle, waiting for Trump to pass by on September 15.

The Florida incident came after a gunman fired on the former president with an AR-15-style rifle at a rally in Pennsylvania, grazing his ear.

The threats against Trump prompted criticism of his Secret Service detail, and the head of the Secret Service resigned in July.