Trump Rally Arrest May Have Prevented Assassination Attempt: Sheriff

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A heavily armed Las Vegas man was arrested Saturday outside former President Donald Trump's rally in the Coachella Valley, according to the Riverside County sheriff, who called the man "a lunatic" and said he believed deputies prevented an assassination attempt.

The man, however, told a local newspaper group he was a Trump supporter.

READ MORE: 'Insane Theory That I Was There To Cause Harm': Trump Rally Arrestee Speaks Out

Vem Miller, 49, had a shotgun, a handgun, a high-capacity magazine and multiple boxes of ammunition when deputies made contact with him, police said. The firearms were not registered and Miller was taken into custody and later booked into county jail for possessing a loaded gun and high-capacity magazine, according to police.

Miller was released Saturday on $5,000 bail, and was scheduled to appear Jan. 2 at the Indio Larson Justice Center, according to the department's inmate database.

Riverside County authorities are working with the Secret Service and FBI, and any additional charges will come from the federal government, according to Sheriff Chad Bianco.

Saturday's events follow assassination attempts that targeted Trump at a rally in July and at one of his golf courses in September.

“I truly do believe that we prevented another assassination attempt," Bianco said at a press conference Sunday livestreamed on social media.

Miller was intercepted by deputies when he reached the inner perimeter for Saturday's rally after making it past the outer perimeter, according to Bianco, who noted Miller was stopped before Trump's arrival. Miller's vehicle was unregistered and in disarray with an "obviously fake license plate," and it contained multiple passports and driver's licenses under different names, Bianco said.

In comments to Southern California News Group, Miller said he supports Trump and only had the guns for protection.

"I'm an artist, I'm the last person that would cause any violence and harm to anybody,'' Miller told the newspaper group.

Miller ran as a Republican in 2022 for Nevada Assembly District 13, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He also identified as a sovereign citizen, Bianco said, a far right group that doesn't believe in government control.

“I couldn’t care less what political party he belongs to, I honestly, I think that’s the stupidest thing in the world that we have to label something and we’re labeling this as politics," the sheriff said. "He was a lunatic."

Miller told the Review-Journal in 2022 that he was running for office because “this country has been taken over by tyranny.” He also told the newspaper that if elected his priority would be stopping voter fraud by auditing rolls, passing stronger identification laws and using paper ballots. At the time he was a plaintiff in a lawsuit in which he claimed he was not allowed to properly observe polls, the Review-Journal reported.

His LinkedIn profile states he is a partner at The America Happens Network, which has the slogan "Rage Against the Mainstream Media." In his LinkedIn biography, he expresses displeasure about big government, "unlawful mandates" and "politicians acting like dictators."

According to Miller, he was invited to the Coachella Valley rally by the head of Clark County's Republican Party. Miller is a caucus captain for Trump in Nevada, according to Southern California News Group. He also said he was unaware of the differences between gun laws in Nevada and California.

Bianco maintained that he believed his agency likely stopped an assassination attempt.

“There is absolutely no way that any of us are going to truly know what was in his head,” Bianco said, later adding, "I probably did have deputies that prevented the third assassination attempt."

Miller was driving a black SUV at a checkpoint at Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive when deputies assigned to the rally made contact with him just before 5 p.m. Saturday, according to police, who said the incident did not affect Trump's safety or the safety of event attendees. Miller claimed Saturday to be a journalist with VIP status, Bianco said.

“The U.S. Secret Service assesses that the incident did not impact protective operations and former President Trump was not in any danger,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement Sunday. “While no federal arrest has been made at this time, the investigation is ongoing.”

Trump had not commented on the arrest as of Sunday.

"A beautiful evening in Coachella, California last night. Thank you!'' the former president posted on X, along with a video of the crowd at the rally.

Trump was shot in the ear at a rally in Butler, Penn., on July 13 by a man who was subsequently shot dead by authorities. On Sept. 22, a man was arrested after the Secret Service allegedly saw him pointing a rifle from shrubbery on the West Palm Beach, Fla., golf course where Trump was playing.

Bianco said the FBI was questioning another man after bomb-detecting dogs identified him as possibly dangerous and denied him access to the rally.

City News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this story.