A man from Las Vegas was arrested with weapons and documents fake ID cards about a quarter mile from former President Donald Trump‘s campaign rally in the Coachella Valley, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Sunday.
But although the sheriff called the arrest a foiled murder attempt, the man, Vem Miller, told a reporter he is a Trump supporter who bought the guns for his own safety and notified police at a checkpoint that They were in the trunk of his car.
So who is Vem Miller?
Miller, 49, is a registered Republican who has a master’s degree from UCLA and ran for the state Assembly in Nevada in 2022. He lost in the primary.
Then, told the Las Vegas Review-JournaHe was running because “this country has been taken over by tyranny.” He said he supported increased electric car manufacturing in Nevada and solar energy, but would also want to focus on election security issues if elected to office, including strengthening voter ID laws and implementing voter ballots. paper again.
Miller also runs The America Happens Network, whose motto is “Rage Against Mainstream Media.”
On his LinkedIn, he wrote: “For more than 20 years, I have worked in the media as an investigative journalist, documentary filmmaker and content producer… I have seen our rights taken away, while the power of big government grows. I have seen small businesses and the middle class crushed. I have seen illegal mandates and politicians acting like dictators. “I have also seen the power of money flow through politics and a political class that no longer works for We the People.”
Bianco said Miller appeared to be part of or have an affinity for so-called sovereign citizens, a group of people who do not believe they are subject to any government statute unless they consent to it.
On his LinkedIn, he wrote: “For more than 20 years, I have been working in the media as an investigative journalist, documentary filmmaker and content producer… I have seen our rights taken away, while the power of big government grows. I have seen small businesses and the middle class crushed. I have seen illegal mandates and politicians acting like dictators. “I have also seen the power of money flow through politics and a political class that no longer works for We the People.”
Bianco said Miller appeared to be part of or have an affinity for so-called sovereign citizens, a group of people who do not believe they are subject to any government statute unless they consent to it.
In his interview with a reporter, Miller flatly denied that.
In Instagram, Miller has numerous photos with several notable Republicans or figures who have supported former President Trump, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Colonel Douglas Macgregor and Stephen Miller, among others. He appears to have attended the Republican National Convention. Many of her posts are pro-Trump or anti-Vice President Kamala Harris, anti-vaccine, or focus on gender-related culture war issues.
Why Miller was at Trump’s Coachella rally
Miller said he received a special invitation to the Coachella Valley rally from the head of the Clark County Republican Party. So far, no one at the Clark County Republican Office has responded to phone calls seeking comment.
What happened before the rally that led to Miller’s arrest?
Sheriff’s deputies assigned to the Trump rally said a driver, identified as Miller, arrived in a black pickup truck at a checkpoint at the intersection of Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive around 5 p.m. Saturday. There he was found in illegal possession of a shotgun, a loaded pistol and a high-capacity magazine, Bianco said. He added that Miller’s car had a false license plate and was not registered. Agents also found several phone passports and driver’s licenses, Bianco said.
Miller tells the story another way. In an exclusive interview with this news organization, he said he showed up to the rally wearing a Trump T-shirt and hat and arrived at a checkpoint before entering the event parking lot and told an officer that he was legally carrying firearms. in his trunk, as a courtesy.
They asked him to stop and get out of the car before they handcuffed him and “ransacked” his vehicle, after an officer said he wanted to retrieve the gun’s serial numbers to confirm they had been purchased legally.
Miller said he purchased the firearms in 2022 to protect himself after he began receiving death threats. He had never shot them and said he was unfamiliar with the difference between Nevada and California gun laws.
He also denied presenting a press pass at the checkpoint and said he only had a “special entry pass.”
Was this another assassination attempt directed against Trump?
In September, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged with attempting to assassinate Trump while the former president was golfing. On September 15, US Secret Service agents found Routh with a high-powered rifle outside the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach. The officers spotted the barrel of his gun in the bushes and shot him before he fled.
On July 13, 2024, at a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, Matthew Crooks shot Trump with an AR-15-style rifle from a nearby rooftop while Trump was giving a campaign speech. Crooks shot Trump in the ear and killed one aide while seriously wounding two others before Crooks was killed by Secret Service anti-sniper agents.
After Miller’s arrest, Sheriff Bianco said his department had attempted another assassination attempt on former President Trump.
“If you ask me right now, I probably had officers who prevented the third assassination attempt,” Bianco said during a news conference. “If we are so lost politically that we have lost sight of common sense, reality and reason, that we cannot say ‘Wow, why did he show up with all those things and loaded weapons?’, and are they going to accuse me of being dramatic? We have a very, very serious problem in this country. Because this is common sense and reason.”
At one point, Bianco called Miller “a lunatic.”
But Miller denies the claim.
“These accusations are complete nonsense,” Miller said. “I am an artist, I am the last person who would cause violence and harm to someone.”
Mindy Robinson, who described herself as Miller’s partner on America Happens, posted on X and Instagram on Sunday that the allegations against Miller don’t make sense to her.
“There is no universe (in which) his intention was to kill Trump,” Robinson wrote. “He has worked very hard in this movement to expose the Deep State and all the people against it.”
Miller was booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio for possession of a loaded firearm and a high-capacity magazine, authorities said.
He was released Saturday on $5,000 bail and is scheduled to appear at the Larson Justice Center in Indio on Jan. 2, 2025, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department inmate database.
Bianco said if there are more charges, they would come from the federal government. He said the FBI, Secret Service and Sheriff’s Department continue to investigate.
The Secret Service issued a brief statement saying it was aware of the arrest. “The incident did not affect protection operations. “The Secret Service extends its gratitude to the agents and local partners who helped safeguard last night’s events,” the agency said.
Original Story
Who is Vem Miller, the man arrested outside California Trump rally with weapons?
