Cops nab man allegedly carrying illegal guns near Trump’s Coachella rally; suspect says he backs ex-president

Authorities in California announced that an arrest was made prior to former President Donald Trump’s rally in California on Saturday.

During a press conference on Sunday, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco provided an update on the suspect, Vem Miller, a 49-year-old resident of Las Vegas, who was found to be illegally in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine. 

Just before 5 pm, Bianco said Miller approached the outside perimeter in a black SUV at the intersection of Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive, and gave all indications that he belonged there and was allowed to get into the VIP area of the rally.

Deputies were conducting a thorough evaluation of the vehicles that were coming in and immediately noticed some irregularities that popped up with Miller.

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“What we do know is he showed up with multiple passports with different names. An unregistered vehicle with a fake license plate and loaded firearms. If you’re asking me right now, I probably did have deputies that prevented the third assassination attempt,” Bianco said. 

Bianco continued and said the deputy noticed that the interior of the vehicle was “in quite disarray.” “The deputy also noticed vehicle had an obviously fake license plate, and that prompted further investigation from our deputy into why the person was there and what he was doing.”

During the evaluation, Bianco said the deputy eventually found multiple passports with multiple names, multiple driver’s licenses with different names and that the vehicle was unregistered and the license plate “was what we in law enforcement would recognize as one that is homemade and indicative of a group of individuals that claimed to be ‘sovereign citizens.'” 

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Sovereign citizens believe they are not under the jurisdiction of the federal government and consider themselves exempt from U.S. law. They use a variety of conspiracy theories and falsehoods to justify their beliefs and their activities, some of which are illegal and violent, according to the Sovereign Citizens Movement website. 

“I knew this was going to happen. I couldn’t care less what political party he belongs to. I honestly, I think that’s the stupidest thing in the world that we have to label something, and we’re labeling this as politics. He was a lunatic. He was,” Bianco said about Miller.

“And from my perspective, in law enforcement, he was. It’s that group. If, in fact, it turns out that he is part of the Sovereign Citizens Group, they are certainly considered a far-right group. I wouldn’t, from my own personal belief, I wouldn’t say it’s a militant group. It’s just a group that doesn’t believe in government and government control. They don’t believe that the government and laws apply to them. So I think it’s fringe one way or the other. I couldn’t care less. It’s people trying to do harm. And thank God we prevented it,” Bianco continued. 

Officials said 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. 

Miller, in an interview with Southern California News Group on Sunday, said he was “shocked” that he was arrested and accused of trying to harm Trump, who he supports.

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“These accusations are complete bull—t,” Miller said. “I’m an artist, I’m the last person that would cause any violence and harm to anybody.”

Miller also said he was never told why he was being apprehended. Roughly eight hours after being detained, Miller said he was finally given the opportunity to call a lawyer and recounted his experience on the phone in front of an FBI agent and member of the Secret Service, who were there to interview him. He was later told by deputies that the interview had been called off.

“I mean, as far as I’m concerned, there were a minimum of 25,000 people that entered past those deputies into that location that had legitimate identification and weren’t carrying guns. So I will just go from there.,” Bianco said. “I can tell you that none of the other, probably 50,000 people that showed up yesterday for that event brought multiple passports with different names and guns.” 

A source close to the Trump campaign also told Fox News’s Bill Melugin, and another told Fox News’ Bryan Preston, that they do not believe this was an assassination attempt on Trump.

In a previous statement, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said, “This incident did not impact the safety of former President Trump or attendees of the event.” 

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“Right now, we are actively engaged in working with the Secret Service and the FBI to ensure that this person is followed up on and all of the information that they can gather,” Bianco said. “I can tell you that from my perspective, from a state law enforcement agencies perspective, the firearms charges is what we arrested him for and booked him on, anything further will come from the federal government.”

The Department of Justice, Secret Service, and FBI also issued a joint statement to Fox News Digital and acknowledged the incident.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Secret Service, and FBI are aware of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office’s arrest on Saturday. The U.S. Secret Service assesses 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 U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Secret Service, and FBI extend their gratitude to the deputies and local partners who helped ensure the safety of last night’s events,” the statement read. 

Fox News’ Bryan Preston contributed to this report.