A potential third assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump might have been thwarted on Saturday, when local authorities stopped and detained an armed man at a campaign event in Coachella Valley.
Vem Miller, the suspect, was apprehended at a police checkpoint about half a mile away from the event. He was in a black SUV and carried fake press and VIP passes. He also had a loaded shotgun, a handgun, and a high-capacity magazine.
“We probably stopped another assassination attempt,” Riverside County sheriff Chad Bianco said.
A Las Vegas resident, 49-year-old Miller “was taken into custody without incident and later booked at the John J. Benoit Detention Center for possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release on Sunday. “This incident did not impact the safety of former President Trump or attendees of the event.”
Miller was apprehended about 30 minutes before Trump’s Calhoun Ranch rally, near Coachella, began. Bianco told the Epoch Times that police “arrested a man trying to get in the perimeter with two firearms who ended up saying he was going to kill the president.” Miller posted $5,000 bail, was released, and will appear at the Indio Larson Justice Center on January 2 of next year.
The suspected assassin belongs to a right-wing anti-government organization, Bianco said, and is a registered Republican. Miller holds a bachelor’s degree in English and American literature with a concentration in creative writing from the University of California, Los Angeles, and ran for the Nevada state assembly in 2022.
Miller told local news during his campaign in 2022 that he wanted to run for office because “this country has been taken over by tyranny.” His policy priorities would be voter fraud, voter-ID laws, and solar-energy projects, he said.
Reno GOP donors Robert and Nicole Beadles supported Miller’s campaign, according to finance reports reviewed by National Review. Pro-Trump election deniers, the Beadles family has contributed nearly $1 million to various candidates in Nevada, and Robert said in a 2022 interview that he wanted to bring “in American Firsters. You know, we need to take back our votes.”
Miller, the suspect, was at this year’s Republican National Convention, where he filmed himself surrounded by “wonderful people, wonderful time.” He was pictured within feet of Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and he took photos with Jordan Peterson, Riley Gaines, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Newt Gingrich. Per his social-media posts, Miller appears to be a pro-Trump Republican.
Secret Service said that “the incident did not impact protective operations. The Secret Service extends its gratitude to the deputies and local partners who assisted in safeguarding last night’s events.”
Although police said that Miller had expressed intent to kill Trump, the suspect was not placed on a federal hold. If the allegations are true, Miller’s would be the third attempt on Trump’s life this year. On July 13, Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Trump during a rally in Butler, Pa., hitting the president’s ear, killing one rally-goer, and injuring two other attendees. Secret Service gunned down Crooks, but the event launched a series of investigations into the Secret Service’s mishandling of Trump’s security. Then, in September, Ryan Wesley Routh was charged with attempted assassination when he staked out the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Fla., waiting in the bushes with a rifle to fire at the president who was playing golf at the time.