Did California’s Riverside County Sheriff’s Workplace thwart a “third assassination try” towards former President Donald Trump?
That’s what Sheriff Chad Bianco stated after a Las Vegas man was arrested on state weapons fees at a checkpoint exterior former President Donald Trump’s Oct. 12 rally in Coachella Valley, California.
Trump was shot within the ear at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, by gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was then killed by a Secret Service sharpshooter. After a second assassination try on Trump, Ryan Wesley Routh was indicted on fees he staked out Trump’s Florida golf course Sept. 15.
Federal authorities and the Trump marketing campaign, as of Oct. 14, had not described the Oct. 12 incident as an assassination try, nonetheless.
The suspect, Vem Miller, posted a prolonged Oct. 14 video assertion vehemently disputing the sheriff’s assertion and describing himself as a fervent Trump supporter who had beforehand been in shut proximity to the previous president at different rallies, even having spoken with Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, at occasions.
What occurred close to the Trump rally
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Division stated in an Oct. 13 press launch that Miller was arrested Oct. 12 at a checkpoint close to the Trump rally and was “illegally in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a high-capacity journal.” It stated he was “taken into custody with out incident and booked on the John J. Benoit Detention Heart for possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity journal. This incident didn’t influence the security of former President Trump or attendees of the occasion.”
Jail data present Miller was launched the identical day on $5,000 bond and is scheduled for a Jan. 2 courtroom listening to.
The Secret Service, the FBI and the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace launched a joint assertion Oct. 13 on X, saying that “whereas no federal arrest has been made presently, the investigation is ongoing.” The Secret Service stated it assessed the incident and that “Trump was not in any hazard.”
PolitiFact contacted the Secret Service and a spokesperson referred us to the assertion. The Justice Division didn’t reply to a message searching for remark.
Trump marketing campaign Communications Director Steven Cheung stated in a press release, “We thank regulation enforcement for securing the rally web site and serving to guarantee the security of President Trump. We’re conscious of reports stories in regards to the arrest and are at the moment monitoring the state of affairs and gathering extra info.”
Sheriff stands by his declare
Regardless of the federal officers not describing the incident as an assassination try, Bianco, the Riverside County Sheriff, doubled down on his assertion at an Oct. 13 information convention.
Bianco stated Miller was driving a automobile with “an clearly faux license plate” and {that a} deputy discovered “a number of passports with a number of names, a number of driver’s licenses with completely different names” and that his automobile was unregistered. Biano stated the license plate was “indicative of a bunch of people that declare to be sovereign residents.”
The Southern Poverty Legislation Heart describes sovereign residents as a bunch of people that imagine that federal legal guidelines don’t apply to them and justify their beliefs with conspiracy theories.
Miller, in his video assertion, disputed that he was a sovereign citizen.
When a reporter requested about Bianco’s assertion calling the incident a “third assassination try,” Bianco replied that at the beginning stated he didn’t bear in mind saying that. However then he doubled down on the assertion.
“It doesn’t matter what, it is all going to be hypothesis about what his intentions have been getting there. What we do know is he confirmed up with a number of passports with completely different names, an unregistered automobile with faux license plate and loaded firearms,” Bianco stated. “Should you’re asking me proper now, I most likely did have deputies that prevented the third assassination try.”
The Sheriff’s Workplace didn’t reply to a PolitiFact electronic mail asking if Bianco nonetheless believed it was an assassination try.
What we find out about Miller
Miller is a former political candidate who got here in third place within the 2022 Republican major for a Nevada state meeting seat. His platform included restoring the Structure and ending voter fraud. He ran as a result of the U.S. was “taken over by tyranny,” he instructed the Las Vegas Evaluate Journal in Could 2022.
He’s a associate in The America Occurs Community, which hosts information, exhibits, documentaries and podcasts. Its web site states, “Rage towards the mainstream media.”
Miller hosts the community’s “Blood Cash” podcast — a present that claims it “delves into subjects of corruption, controversy and conspiracy — subjects the Mainstream media won’t contact.” The present’s subjects have included a dialogue of the conspiracy principle that 9/11 was an inside job, the risks of vaccines and “the local weather change BS.”
In his video assertion disputing the sheriff’s claims, Miller described himself as a former President Barack Obama supporter who went “all in on Trump” in 2018.
He stated he was “impressed by the work of President Trump and his braveness” to run for workplace.
Miller stated he had a “particular invite” from Nevada Republican Social gathering officers to attend the Trump rally and that he carried weapons as a result of he has acquired dying threats due to his work on the America Occurs Community. He stated he has by no means fired the weapons that he purchased for cover.
He stated he instructed cops on the checkpoint that he had weapons in his automobile’s trunk and that he was quickly handcuffed and arrested. He stated a Secret Service and a federal agent requested to talk with him on the jail however then didn’t after he requested to take action together with his legal professional current.
Miller’s social media pages again his claims that he’s a Trump supporter. His Fb profile photograph, added July 14, 2024, exhibits the broadly circulated picture of Trump elevating his fist to the group after he was shot in Butler.
Miller additionally stated he has attended different Trump rallies or personal occasions involving the previous president or his group. A March 2 Instagram publish presumably filmed by Miller exhibits a Trump rally in Richmond, Virginia. A Feb. 8 Instagram publish confirmed one other Trump rally but it surely’s unclear the place it was filmed.
Instagram posts present Miller posing at occasions with plenty of folks in Trump’s orbit, together with former 2024 presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr., former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, Trump supporter Vivek Ramaswamy; one other publish exhibits Donald Trump Jr. strolling previous.
Miller stated that he met former President Trump on “a number of events,” together with for the New York Metropolis movie premiere of a “Blade” vampire film, a collection from 1998 to 2024 that starred Wesley Snipes. “Spoke with him. He was undoubtedly very cool,” Miller stated.
Workers Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
