Vem Miller, the armed man who was arrested outside a Donald Trump rally on Saturday, claimed he has links to members of the former president’s family.
Speaking in a video posted to the social media site Rumble, Miller, a 49-year-old Las Vegas resident, outlined the experience of his arrest and said he knows “a lot of people” closely associated with Trump, the Republican presidential candidate.
On Saturday, Miller was arrested after authorities found firearms in his car outside a Trump rally in Coachella Valley, California. He was booked and taken into custody at the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio on charges of possessing a loaded firearm and a high-capacity magazine.
Miller, who was also driving an unregistered vehicle with a homemade license plate and had multiple passports and driver’s licenses with different names, according to authorities, was released Saturday on $5,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear at the Indio Larson Justice Center on January 2, 2025, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department inmate database.
Speaking in a 75-minute video, Miller denied speculation that he might have harmed Trump and reports from authorities that he had fraudulent press passes. He said he attended the rally “after receiving a special invitation from members of the Nevada Republican Party.”
He said: “I drive up with my special entry pass—and by the way, they’re saying I had a counterfeit pass that’s a bunch of nonsense—I can prove that I had a special entry pass directed to me, sent directly to me by officials within the Republican Party of Nevada. I was an actual invitee to that event.”
He also outlined his connection to members of the Trump family.
“I would say in the last four years I have been to a countless number of Trump rallies and Trump events,” he said.
He continued: “I’ve talked to Don Jr., I’ve talked to Eric Trump. I know a lot of people within the Trump family and the extended family, and I have been integrally involved.”
He added that he is “very close with individuals in the Trump extended family,” that he has “met the president on multiple occasions,” and that the Trump campaign has issued him around “20” special guest passes in the past.
Newsweek reached out to spokespeople for Trump and the Trump Organization via email and Miller via Facebook for comment on Monday.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Coachella, California, on October 12. Vem Miller was arrested outside the rally after authorities found firearms in his car.
AP Photo/Alex Gallardo
Following Miller’s arrest, Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, told the Southern California News Group on Sunday that officers had “probably stopped another assassination attempt.”
The former president was previously left with minor injuries after a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. Trump was also the target of an apparent assassination attempt at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September, though no shots were fired at him.
In a press conference, Bianco added: “If you are asking me right now, I probably did have deputies that prevented the third assassination attempt.
Miller previously told Fox News Digital that he was “100 percent a Trump supporter” and that he had no intention of shooting Trump. He said he had never fired a gun in his life and that he purchased firearms after receiving death threats due to his work in media.
On his LinkedIn page, the 49-year-old describes himself as an investigative journalist, documentary filmmaker, and content producer with 20-plus years of experience.
He founded the America Happens Network in 2007, where he hosts a podcast and has interviewed people including British MP Nigel Farage and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
Miller, a Republican, ran for Nevada State Assembly, District 13 in the 2022 election cycle, according to a report from the Aurora Campaign Finance Disclosure from the Nevada Secretary of State.
