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By Becca Lower | RedState.com

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

As we wrote earlier on Sunday, a man was arrested outside former President Donald Trump’s Saturday rally in Coachella, California, when he failed to provide proper identification. That raised a red flag. When local police officials searched his car, they found several weapons and ammunition, as the NY Post reported:

A third assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump was thwarted at the last minute Saturday when local cops stopped a man armed with guns and fake passes outside his rally at Coachella Valley, the local sheriff said.

The suspect was caught about a mile from the rally venue with a phony-entry pass, according to police. He was also carrying a loaded shotgun, handgun and high capacity magazine.

“We probably stopped another assassination attempt,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said.

The suspect, identified as Vem Miller, was intercepted by police at a checkpoint about a half-mile from the rally entrance. He was carrying a fake phony [sic] press and VIP passes.

The report continued:

Miller is believed to be a member of a rightwing anti-government organization, according to Bianco, and was plotting to kill Trump.

He has a UCLA Masters degree, and in 2022 ran for Nevada State assembly, the newspaper reported.

Miller was booked for possessing a loaded firearm and a high capacity magazine — and was released after posting $5,000 bail, police records show.

As the Post added in an updated version of its story (linked above)

However, law enforcement sources told The Post that the FBI does not believe this was an assassination attempt, and the former president’s life was never in danger.


 Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco addressed the media just after 3:00 p.m. PST on Sunday. He explained that there were two perimeters outside the event: an inside and an outside perimeter. Past those is the actual entrance to the rally, where the Secret Service takes over screening participants.

The inside perimeter, where the man was stopped, was completely controlled by the Sheriff’s office. He said they believe the man’s name is Vem Miller, with a birthdate of Oct. 26, 1974. That was the information he gave law enforcement, and how he was booked.

Bianco said that not only did the deputy notice that the vehicle was in disarray, but the license plate was fake. The officer also found several passports with different names on them inside the car. He said the IDs and the license plate were an indication to law enforcement that the suspect was part of a sovereign citizens fringe group. The car belongs to Miller, but was not officially registered.

The sheriff said that he didn’t remember saying that a third assassination attempt was thwarted, but that he wouldn’t be surprised if he did. He put it down to the advance preparation his office made before the rally, and that he’s glad they didn’t have to shoot the suspect.

Bianco chastised one reporter’s question, calling it “common sense and reason” to consider someone trying to enter a Trump rally with loaded guns and improper ID as a potential threat to the former president, who has already survived two assassination attempts.

He did confirm something that the man told the media after he posted bail, that someone gave him a pass. The sheriff said later in the press conference that it wasn’t clear whether the pass was a physical pass. Regardless, rally participants must do their own registration for events; they can’t just be given a pass, Bianco said.

He also confirmed that the high-capacity magazine found in the search was for the handgun.

Bianco said that his office has basically completed its investigation, which was on the weapons, and any other charges (if there are more) would be handled on the federal level. The investigation is continuing among his office, the FBI, and Secret Service.

Author: Frances Rice