Vem Miller, the Las Vegas man who was arrested with allegedly illegal firearms and fake passports outside the rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump near Coachella on Saturday, sued Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and the county alleging illegal search and defamation on Tuesday, Oct. 15, two days after Bianco said, “We probably stopped another assassination attempt.”
Miller, in interviews with the Southern California News Group, said he had the Glock and shotgun for protection after receiving death threats. He said he planned to keep them in the trunk of his car during the rally. He has a Canadian passport that 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.
The Sheriff’s Department, in announcing the arrest of 49-year-old Miller in a news release, did not mention a possible assassination plot, which would have been the third against the former president since July. But Bianco made the connection in an interview with SCNG on Sunday and later that day at a news conference.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Nevada by attorney Sigal Chattah, seeks unspecified and compensatory damages. The deputy who arrested Miller was also named as a defendant.
Vem Miller, who was arrested outside the Donald Trump rally near Coachella on Oct. 12, 2024, sued Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco on Oct. 15 after the sheriff said Miller may have intended to assassinate Trump. (Courtesy of Vem Miller)
“Immediately after Miller’s arrest, Defendant Bianco did not miss an opportunity to fabricate allegations against Miller, going on numerous news outlets, claiming to have thwarted a third assassination attempt against Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump,” the lawsuit says. “It became clear that Bianco, intentionally, maliciously and with a blatant disregard for the truth, wanted to create a narrative so as to be viewed as a ‘heroic’ Sheriff.”
Miller said he is a Republican who supports Trump because, Miller said, “He is one of the few people to stand up to the tyranny against we the people.” Miller said he is a journalist who created the organization America Happens that offers documentaries, podcasts and news that “rage against the mainstream media,” according to its website.
The Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday declined to comment extensively on the lawsuit.
“As it is pending litigation, we cannot comment on the specifics at this time. We are committed to transparency and will cooperate fully with the legal process. Our priority remains the safety and well-being of the community we serve,” an unsigned Sheriff’s Department email said.
Miller was arrested when he presented what Bianco said was a fake VIP pass at an interior checkpoint a couple of hours before the rally was scheduled to begin. He was cited on suspicion of illegally carrying a loaded firearm and possessing a large-capacity magazine and then released.
Bianco said deputies also grew suspicious when they saw that Miller’s car was not registered and had what the sheriff described as a “homemade” license plate.
Miller said he told deputies about the firearms before they searched his car. The pass was issued to him by Clark County Republicans, Miller said. A spokesperson for that organization has not been reachable for comment.
Miller had not been charged as of Wednesday. His first court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 2.
Federal investigators have not interviewed him or reached out since his arrest, Miller said. Local law enforcement in Nevada tried to search his home without a warrant, but his parents would not allow them, Miller said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has declined to discuss the investigation at any length. Officials there would not elaborate on their statement that Trump “was not in any danger.”
Bianco on Wednesday said he had no regrets about speculating that his deputies “probably” prevented an attempt on Trump’s life. “Everyone” at the scene reached the same theory because of the circumstances, Bianco said.
“I am not backtracking. I am the furthest thing from backtracking,” Bianco said. “At the time of the arrest, that is what we believed. If everything he says is true, and the FBI believes nothing was there, then so be it.”
“If he says ‘I would never hurt President Trump,’ then that (could be) a factual statement. What if he was there to hurt someone else? All we know is someone was trying to smuggle guns into an event.”
Bianco, a strong supporter of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, and who along with his wife posed for a photo with Trump at the rally, said he has been wrongly criticized by other such supporters for seizing Miller’s firearms. Others have unfairly said the deputy who arrested Miller “was out to get a Trump supporter,” Bianco said.
Bianco wonders how it apparently took Miller’s attorney only two days to write and file the 23-page lawsuit.
“There is none of this, from the very beginning, that makes sense. It’s a social media blitz that seems coordinated. Maybe they were setting this up for a lawsuit,” Bianco said.
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