The man arrested outside a rally for then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the Coachella Valley in October who had a gun and suspicious documents in his car, prompting Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to say his deputies “probably stopped another assassination attempt,” filed a new lawsuit on Monday, March 10, alleging defamation and civil rights violations.
Vem Miller previously filed a similar lawsuit in Nevada. His current attorney, Ethan Bearman, said California law requires a lawsuit to be filed in the state in which the defendants live. Bianco, Riverside County and the Sheriff’s Department are among the defendants.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court, the Central District of California, which includes Riverside County.
RELATED: Conservative Southern California sheriff announces governor run in 2026
Miller is seeking at least $100 million in damages.
Bianco declined to comment Tuesday on the latest lawsuit.
Miller, speaking under an umbrella in the rain at midday Tuesday in front of the Historic Courthouse in Riverside, said he told deputies at a rally checkpoint that he had a gun and asked whether he should turn it in or keep it in his car while he attended the rally. Deputies, however, searched his car and seized various documents.
Bianco later said Miller had a phony press pass, driver’s license and passports.
The damage, Bearman said, included a text he said Bianco sent to the Epoch Times that read: “We arrested a man trying to get in the perimeter with two firearms who ended up saying he was going to kill the president.”
Miller denies ever saying that. He noted that he is a staunch supporter of Trump, who had survived two previous assassination attempts.
Miller, in interviews with the Southern California News Group, said he had weapons for protection after receiving death threats. He said a Canadian passport lists his legal name before he changed it, he said. Another passport lists a last name other than Miller because he is Armenian and was doing a documentary in Turkey on the Armenian genocide and didn’t want to put himself at risk, Miller said.
Miller said Tuesday that he did not attempt to sort out the confusion because he was quickly placed into the back of a patrol car. He has pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor firearms violations. His hearing scheduled for Tuesday was continued.
Bianco, after being sued in Nevada, said in October that at the time of Miller’s arrest, “everyone” at the scene reached the conclusion based on the evidence that Miller planned to try to kill Trump. But Bearman said federal authorities never questioned Miller.
“If everything he says is true, and the FBI believes nothing was there, then so be it,” Bianco said in the October interview.
But to Bearman, any perceived backtracking by Bianco was too late because Bianco publicly repeated his opinion about Miller’s supposed plans over and over.
“Outrageous, outrageous unacceptable conduct from an elected official, the top law enforcement officer in Riverside County, California,” Bearman said, “to continue to triple, quadruple, to quintuple down on these knowingly false allegations.”
Bearman said Bianco later texted the Epoch Times and said he had received incorrect information from a deputy.
Miller said he or his parents receive threats every day. He says his parents were evicted from their home as a result of the allegations against him.
Miller said Bianco was trying to generate fame off his Oct. 13 arrest to support his bid for governor that he announced four months later.
“There was an assassination that happened on that day,” Miller said. “And it really was my character.”
Miller has not been shy about publicizing Bianco’s statements about him. Miller produced a documentary titled “The 3rd Assassin” and handed out cards promoting the video and requesting donations to the media Tuesday. Before the news conference, he livestreamed to his audience on The America Happens Network, where he posts “unsensored” news, podcasts and documentaries to “rage against the mainstream media.”
Miller said in a January interview with SCNG reporters that he started his website after the 9/11 attacks.
Miller, 49, is a registered Republican who holds a master’s degree from UCLA, and ran for state assembly in Nevada in 2022. He lost in the primary.