DONALD Trump was targeted in a possible third assassination attempt by a “lunatic” who had two guns and fake IDs in his car, a sheriff claimed.
Vem Miller, a 49-year-old resident of Las Vegas was arrested by cops as he tried to enter the former President’s rally in Coachella, California, on Saturday.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a press conference Sunday he believes Miller planned to kill Trump at the rally.
Deputies stopped Miller at an inner perimeter checkpoint – a mile from the rally – at about 5pm local time.
Miller was driving a black SUV with Bianco saying it had fake “homemade” plates and was unregistered.
Cops had noticed the car was in “disarray” and the fake plates prompted them to investigate further inside the car.
Inside the car deputies say they found a shotgun and a loaded handgun – guns they allege Miller did not lawfully have.
They also found multiple passports and multiple drivers’ licences, each with different names.
Bianco claimed at the press conference: “I probably did have deputies that stopped a third assassination attempt.
“Thank God we prevented it.”
Trump was yet to arrive and sheriffs say there was no danger to his life.
Miller was arrested on two gun charges – for having a unregistered firearm and having a high capacity magazine for a pistol.
He was released from a detention centre Sunday on $5,000 bail.
Speaking to local press after his release, Miller insisted he had no intention of injuring the former president.
He told Southern California News Group: “These accusations are complete b******t.
“I’m an artist, I’m the last person that would cause any violence and harm to anybody.
“I’ve literally never even shot a gun in my life.
“I don’t know anything about guns,” he added.
A criminal judgement on the alleged assassination would come from federal authorities, Sheriff Bianco said.
Both the FBI and Secret Service are investigating.
Sources told the New York Post that the Secret Service believes it is unlikely Miller was planning to assassinate Trump and the FBI is not investigating it as an attempt on his life.
The sheriff slammed Miller as a “lunatic” and believes him to be part of the “far-right” anti-government group called Sovereign Citizens.
Sovereign Citizens are a group who do not believe they are subject to laws unless they consent to them.
The sheriff said Miller tried to enter the rally by saying he was a journalist and was stopped before accreditation was verified.
Miller claims to be an “investigative journalist” and “documentary filmmaker” on politics, according to his LinkedIn.
He has previously shared footage and pictures of him meeting high-profile figures like Robert F Kennedy Jr, Jordan Peterson, Russell Brand and Nigel Farage.
One clip shared on X showed him brushing past Donald Trump Jr at what appeared to be the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Bianco said: “I can tell you none of the other probably 50,000 people that showed up yesterday brought multiple different passports with names and guns.”
Miller was involved with right-wing politics and ran for state assembly in Nevada in 2022 and lost.
He also appears to own a California-based CBD company and has espoused conspiracy theories and misogynistic rhetoric online.
His social media shows photos of him with a number of right-wing political celebrities including Donald Trump Jr, the QAnon Shaman, and RFK Jr.
The Secret Service believes it is unlikely Miller was trying to assassinate Trump and the FBI is not investigating it as an assassination attempt, the New York Post reported.
But Bianco doubled-down at the press conference when asked if it was an 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.”
Right-wing documentarian and TV personality Mindy Robinson spoke out in defence of her friend Miller on Sunday.
She wrote on X: “The man they just arrested for supposedly “trying to kill” Trump in Coachella….is my good friend and business partner for America Happens, Vem Miller.
“There isn’t a universe his intention was to kill Trump, he’s worked too hard in this movement to expose the Deep State and all the people against him.
“It doesn’t even make sense why his passes would be fake either when we’re both usually invited as media to these things.”
She claimed he was being targeted as a result of an “anti-Deep State documentary” the pair were working on together.
Trump spoke to a crowd of several thousand at the rally which was being held at Calhoun Ranch in Riverside County.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco also spoke at the rally.
Speakers were forced to stand behind bulletproof glass at the rally due to the previous two attempts on Trump’s life earlier this year.
Just over a week ago Trump returned to the scene of the first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump pledged never to quit, “not even in the face of death itself”.
He joked: “A very big thank you to Pennsylvania.
“We love Pennsylvania, and as I was saying…”
The man who allegedly staked out Trump on his golf course in Florida has been charged with attempting to assassinate him.
Suspect Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was denied bail at a court hearing on Monday – hours after prosecutors cited a letter offering $150,000 to “finish the job” as evidence of why he should be kept locked up pending trial.
Routh had been initially charged with two federal firearms offences but the upgraded charges reflect the Justice Department’s assessment that he plotted to kill Trump.
Timeline of attempts on Trump's life
July 13– Thomas Crooks shot Donald Trump in the ear after hiding on a roof overlooking the former President’s outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Crooks was killed by Secret Service snipers after he fired eight shots at Trump and killed one rallygoer and injured two others.
The bullet came less than a quarter of an inch from striking Trump’s head, Ronny Jackson, the former president’s physician, said.
September 15– Ryan Routh was seen by a Secret Service agent hiding in the bushes with a rifle at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida.
Trump was playing a round of golf when the alleged would-be assassin managed to get within 400 yard of Trump.
Routh fled the scene in an SUV but was caught by cops and arrested.
October 12– Riverside County Sheriffs believe Vem Miller tried to enter a Trump rally in Coachella, California, with the intention of killing the President.
They stopped him at the perimeter before Trump had even arrived and booked the 49-year-old on two gun charges.
Sheriff Chad Bianco said it would be up to federal officials to investigate Miller for the alleged assassination, but he believed his deputies had stopped a “third assassination attempt”.
