A man who was arrested with a loaded gun outside a Donald Trump rally in California has denied that he was intending to assassinate the former president.
Vem Miller, 49, of Las Vegas, was arrested Saturday at a checkpoint in Coachella Valley after he was allegedly found illegally in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine. Miller was also driving an unregistered vehicle with a homemade license plate and had multiple passports and driver’s licenses with different names, authorities said.
Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, told the Southern California News Group on Sunday that officers had “probably stopped another assassination attempt.” There have previously been two suspected assassination attempts on Trump in recent months. The former president was 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 the Republican.
Speaking to Fox News Digital over the phone, Miller, who was later released, said that he was “100 percent a Trump supporter” and that he has no intention of trying to shoot the former president at the Coachella Valley event.
“I always travel around with my firearms in the back of my truck,” Miller said. “I’ve literally never even shot a gun in my life. I don’t know anything about guns. I am beyond a novice.”
Two unnamed sources close to the Trump campaign told Fox News they do not believe the incident in Coachella Valley was an assassination attempt on the former president.
Former President Donald Trump points as he walks onstage for a campaign rally on October 12, 2024 in Coachella, California. A man accused by law enforcement of planning an assassination attempt on Trump at the rally has denied the claims.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
The Riverside County Sheriff department said Miller was taken into custody without incident on suspicion of possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine.
“This incident did not impact the safety of former President Trump or attendees of the event,” the department said in a statement.
In a joint statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Secret Service, and FBI said that the incident “did not impact protective operations and former President Trump was not in any danger.”
“While no federal arrest has been made at this time, the investigation is ongoing,” the statement added.
“We thank law enforcement for securing the rally site and helping ensure the safety of President Trump. We are aware of news reports about the arrest and are currently monitoring the situation and gathering more information,” Trump’s campaign communications director Steven Cheung told Newsweek.
Miller was released Saturday on $5,000 bail and is scheduled to appear at the Indio Larson Justice Center on January 2, 2025, according to Riverside County Sheriff’s Department inmate database.
Newsweek has contacted Miller’s office, the Riverside County Sheriff’s department and the FBI for further comment.
Miller told Fox News that he purchased firearms for protection after getting death threats due to his work in the media.
Miller founded the America Happens Network in 2007. The network produces a series of online shows and podcasts under its motto “rage against mainstream media.”
Authorities said Miller tried to gain entry to the rally with fake press passes. Miller denied the passes, the driver’s licenses, and passports he had, were fake. He said he’s Armenian and some of his legal documents use his full Armenian name.
He also said he was previously a Democrat and had supported Barack Obama, but is “certainly more Republican now” and was “all-in” with Trump by 2018.
“This is a man that I deeply admire, because I was a closet individual in terms of my beliefs, because I worked in Hollywood. As my politics started to change, I realized that Hollywood is a homogenous community,” Miller told Fox News Digital.
Miller denied suggestions from Bianco that he is connected to the sovereign citizen movement, an anti-government movement whose followers believe they don’t have to follow laws or pay taxes.
He also dismissed accusations from the sheriff that he is part of any far-right group.
“Government is an inanimate object, it’s the individuals within government that matter, so no, I’m not a part of any of that,” Miller said. “They’re saying that I’m part of these right-wing anti-government groups? Why aren’t they naming these groups? Because it doesn’t exist.”
Who Is Vem Miller?
Miller is a registered Republican who graduated from University of California, Los Angeles, according to local reports.
He ran for Nevada State Assembly in the 2022 election cycle but lost in the primary.
Through this experience, I have learned a lot about politics, and how the world of politics is run, often to the detriment of We The People. I have seen our rights be taken, while the power of big government grows.
The 49-year-old describes himself as an investigative journalist, documentary filmmaker, and a content producer with 20-plus years of experience on his LinkedIn page.
“Through this experience, I have learned a lot about politics, and how the world of politics is run, often to the detriment of We The People. I have seen our rights be taken, while the power of big government grows,” he wrote.
He hosts a podcast called Blood Money on the America Happens Network he founded. The podcast’s webpage says it focuses on “topics of corruption, controversy and conspiracy—topics the Mainstream media will not touch.”
Miller has not been charged with any federal crimes over an alleged assassination attempt on Trump, although an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Bianco told the Southern California News Group that Miller allegedly being in possession of fake press passes was enough to “cause the deputies alarm.”
“We probably stopped another assassination attempt,” he said.
During a press conference, Bianco pushed back against the suggestion that saying Miller planned to kill Trump may be “dramatic.”
Bianco said: “If you are asking me right now, I probably did have deputies that prevented the third 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, why’d he show up with all that stuff for and loaded guns?’ and I am going to be accused of being dramatic? We have a serious, serious problem in this country. Because this is common sense and reason.
“I certainly didn’t want to be saying after the fact: ‘I wish we had done something to prevent that shooting,'” he added. “There is absolutely no way any of us are going to truly know what was in his head.”
Mindy Robinson, Miller’s partner at America Happens Network, denied suggestions Miller would want to assassinate Trump.
“There isn’t a universe [where] 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,” Robinson posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.
“It doesn’t even make sense why his passes would be fake either when we’re both usually invited as media to these things.”
