“If you ask me now, I will tell you that yes, my deputies probably prevented the third attack”. Chad Biancothe sheriff of Riverside County, California, confirms the hypothesis of an attack behind the arrests Vim Miller49 years old, stopped on Saturday i Coachellaat the entrance to the area where Donald Trump’s rally was to take place.
Bianco provided new details, this evening, regarding the method of arrest: Miller presented himself showing false accreditation for VIP access and a journalist’s pass, which also turned out to be false. The sheriff’s men, who were guarding one of the access points to the area, were suspicious. A license plate check revealed that the black SUV driven by Miller, which was kept in complete disarray inside, was fake. The car was not registered. A search of the interior gave new reasons for suspicion: two weapons, a pistol and a rifle, were loaded, as well as numerous ammunition, many false passports and false driver’s licenses.
The man was arrested for illegal possession of weapons but was released after posting $5,000 bail and ordered to appear before a judge on January 2, 2025. “In the meantime – explained the sheriff – the Secret Service and the FBI will deal with it and a new federal indictment can be made, but I can’t add anything else”. A potential assailant was suspected of being released. The sheriff, however, did not go into details.
This episode, while very different from previous ones, could be Trump’s third assassination attempt in just three months: on July 13 the tycoon was injured in Butler, Pennsylvania, after a young man, Matthew Brooks, fired a war rifle from the roof of a building. A bystander, who was protecting his daughters, died in the attack and two others were injured. Brooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper. On September 15, a man was arrested after seeing him armed with a rifle, on the edge of the Trump golf club in West Palm Beach, Floridawaiting to meet the former president, who was busy playing golf.
This one from Coachella seems to be the least dramatic. “There was no impact on Trump’s security”said the sheriff. Miller turned out to be a Republican voter, associated with right-wing anti-government groups. He defined himself as a “sovereign citizen”. In his Linkedin account he describes himself as an investigative and informative journalist for over twenty years and that he is against “power and politics have crushed small businesses and the middle class.” In 2022 Miller also tried a political adventure: he ran for the Nevada state congress but failed in the primaries.
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FBI and Department of Justice, Trump was never in danger
Two federal officials told CNN that there is currently no evidence to suggest that the man arrested for possession of a firearm near a Donald Trump rally Saturday in California was trying to assassinate the former president.
In a joint statement with the FBI and the Department of Justice, the US Secret Service said “former President Trump was not at risk” at the rally.
The man, who authorities say was in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun and a high-capacity magazine, illegally gained access to a front perimeter near the rally in Coachella, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Sunday.
When the man, identified by the sheriff as Vem Miller, 49, of Las Vegas, reached the second perimeter, authorities became aware of several “irregularities,” Bianco said. The interior of the car was in disarray, the vehicle was unregistered and had a false license plate.