Local cops arrested an armed man outside a Donald Trump rally in California Saturday, and the local sheriff has doubled down on claims that a third assassination attempt was prevented – even though he let the suspect walk after posting a meager bail for gun charges.
“I truly do believe we prevented another assassination attempt,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told reporters Sunday, a day after suspect Vem Miller was arrested at a checkpoint outside Trump’s rally in Coachella Valley.
Miller, 49, was caught at a police checkpoint allegedly trying to enter the rally with a phony press pass – but when cops noticed his car was unregistered, they searched the vehicle and discovered a cache of fake passports and driver’s licenses, along with a shotgun, a loaded handgun and a high-capacity magazine, officials said.
He was soon booked on weapons charges, and then sprung after posting $5,000 bail, but the sheriff turned around and told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that his department had all but saved Trump’s life.
Federal agencies, however, appear to disagree.
The Secret Service later said Trump wasn’t at risk during the rally.
“The US Secret Service assesses that the incident did not impact protective operations and former President Trump was not in any danger,” the agency and the FBI said in a joint statement. “While no federal arrest has been made at this time, the investigation is ongoing.”
Miller reportedly asked for a lawyer after the FBI tried to interview him, and briefly told reporters claims that he was an assassin “complete bulls–t.”
But the sheriff stood by his initial assessment while speaking to the press Sunday – calling Miller a “lunatic” and suggesting the country might also be for suggesting he was “being dramatic.”
“What his frame of mind was, all we can do is speculate,” Bianco said. “If you’re asking me right now, I probably did have deputies that prevented the third assassination attempt.
“If we are that politically lost, that we have lost sight of common sense and reality and reason that we can’t say ‘Holy crap, what did he show up with all of that stuff for?’ … And I’m going to be accused of being dramatic? We have a serious, serious problem in this country. Because this is common sense and reason.”
Bianco noted that any charges having to do with an assassination attempt would be handled by federal authorities and not his office, and that he was working with both the Secret Service and the FBI.
Miller has an extensive history of petty run-ins with the law, sources said, and appears to be a member of the sovereign citizens movement – a far-right movement built on conspiracy theories that believe governments have no authority over them.
The FBI calls the group “anti-government extremists,” who maintain that while they “physically reside in this country,” they remain “separate or ‘sovereign’ from the United States.”
In addition to trying to flout taxes and the court system, the FBI noted sovereign citizens are particularly opposed to traffic stops – to the point that one 25-year-old armed member was gunned down in 2023 after refusing to comply during a Utah traffic stop.
Miller, a registered Republican, has a master’s degree from UCLA, and in 2022 ran for Nevada State Assembly, the Press-Enterprise reported.
He also appears to own a California-based CBD company, and has espoused conspiracy theories and virulently misogynistic rhetoric online.
The assassination-attempt reports follow a tense summer where two gunmen were caught in the nick of time during attempts to kill the former president.
In July, 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on the former president during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet that came within millimeters of ending his life — while one bystander was killed and two more rally goers were wounded. Crooks was gunned down by Secret Service snipers moments after he fired his weapon.
Then barely more than two months later, a would-be gunman was caught with an assault rifle hiding in the bushes of Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club – while the former president was just 300 yards away golfing on the next hole.
The suspect, Ryan Routh, was spotted at the last moment when a Secret Service agent patrolling the president’s next hole spotted the barrel of his weapon sticking out of the bushes. Agents fired, but the gunman escaped and Routh was later apprehended fleeing on the highway.
He is believed to have holed up in the bushes undetected for around 12 hours waiting for his chance to kill Trump, according to federal prosecutors.
The Trump campaign thanked local authorities for their work securing his Vegas rally on Saturday.
“We thank law enforcement for securing the rally site and helping ensure the safety of President Trump. We are aware of news reports about the arrest and are currently monitoring the situation and gathering more information,” Trump communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to The Post.
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