The Las Vegas man accused of being a possible assassin intent on killing former president Donald Trump at a campaign rally near Coachella Valley said that, despite a lack of serious criminal charges against him, the allegations have had significant impacts on him and his family.
Riverside County sheriff’s deputies arrested Vem Miller, 49, outside an Oct. 12 rally at Calhoun Ranch mere weeks before the Nov. 5 election. The day after Miller’s arrest, Sheriff Chad Bianco said his deputies had “probably stopped another assassination attempt” when they prevented Miller from entering a parking lot outside the rally venue.
If true, it would have been the third apparent attempt on Trump in four months, following an assassination attempt in July in Pennsylvania and an apparent thwarted assassination attempt in Florida in September.
“He was trying to get his claim to fame and didn’t care that he was destroying somebody’s life, my parents’ life,” Miller said of Bianco on Thursday, Jan. 9, at a Barstow coffee shop. “I walk into my parents’ house after all this time and I see my mom crying, she’s so traumatized.”
From the beginning, Miller — who had a shotgun and pistol in his vehicle at the time of his arrest — said he was no assassin, but a Trump loyalist unfairly maligned by Bianco.
“Everything was a lie, everything was a lie,” Miller said. “My name was correct, my birthdate was correct. Everything else was a lie.”
Miller sued Bianco and Riverside County three days after his arrest.
“Riverside police engaged in deliberate and wrongful conduct and compromised police protocol violating Miller’s constitutional rights for the purpose of promoting and engaging in a meritless and gratuitous sensational story,” the 23-page suit filed in U.S. District Court in Nevada reads in part. He’s represented by Las Vegas attorney Sigal Chattah, Nevada’s representative on the Republican National Committee.
The criminal charges against the man Bianco characterized as a would-be assassin have been minor.
Miller was released on Oct. 12 without needing to post bail. He currently faces no federal charges connected with the campaign rally. On Jan. 2, Miller pleaded not guilty at Larson Justice Center in Indio to one misdemeanor count of carrying a loaded firearm into a public place and one count of failing to have a current vehicle registration.
According to a joint statement released by the Secret Service, FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, as well as a statement issued later by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Trump had not been in danger at the Coachella Valley rally.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment for this story, saying the department does not comment on pending litigation.
According to Miller, the damaging misinformation from Bianco started almost immediately.
At the time of Miller’s arrest, Bianco said Miller had been found with fake passports and driver’s licenses, had a fake license plate on his unregistered car and belonged to a right-wing anti-government group.
“If you are asking me right now, I probably did have deputies that prevented the third assassination attempt,” Bianco said at an Oct. 13 news conference. “If we are that politically lost that we have lost sight of common sense and reality and reason that we can’t say ‘holy crap, why’d he show up with all that stuff for and loaded guns?’ and I am going to be accused of being dramatic? We have a serious, serious problem in this country. Because this is common sense and reason.”
Bianco referred to Miller as a “lunatic” during the conference.
The passports, driver’s licenses, license plate and guns all had good explanations, Miller said, arguing that deputies did not do their due diligence and examine the allegedly fraudulent documents.
“The back page of my passport says ‘the bearer of this passport is also known as’ and it says my birthname,” Miller said.
An Armenian American, Miller said he dropped his last name, Yenovkian, when he ran for office and because he’s gone to areas of the world for work where Armenians are targeted by authorities. The passports and drivers licenses he had with him at the time of his arrest, Miller said, had a mix of his current and past legal names.
Miller had been involved in a dispute with the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles. He was told by friends that he could just have a “private license plate” on his car in the meantime. He now says he was possibly given bad advice and was in the process of getting a state-issued license plate for his truck by the time of his arrest.
“One hundred percent of the people that I know in Nevada have guns in their trunk,” Miller said of the pistol and shotgun found in his car. “In Nevada, on a dozen occasions, I’ve told cops about this. They don’t care.”
A Southern California resident who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, Miller worked in film and video.
A self-described “JFK Democrat,” Miller contributed to Bernie Sanders’ political campaign in 2016. But by the 2020 presidential election campaign, he was supporting Republicans, including various Trump and GOP candidate campaign committees, having been turned against Democrats by what he said was broadcast news selectively editing footage of Trump.
Now a registered Republican, Miller has served as a caucus captain for Trump. He previously ran for Nevada State Assembly in 2022, losing in the primary. According to Miller, he’s attended about two dozen Trump events.
He now describes himself as a journalist and his website, the America Happens Network, which he started after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, bears the slogan “rage against the mainstream media.” At the time of his arrest, Miller’s business partner, Mindy Robinson, posted on X that she believed his arrest in October was in retaliation for a report on their website alleging a government cover-up involving the 2014 Bundy Ranch standoff in Nevada.
“There isn’t a universe (where) his intention was to kill Trump,” Robinson wrote. “He’s worked too hard in this movement to expose the Deep State and all the people against him.”
At the Oct. 13 news conference, Bianco said Miller is affiliated with the sovereign citizen movement, an anti-government movement that believes that most government statutes do not apply to citizens who do not consent to be governed by them. Miller denies any involvement with the movement.
“On my podcast for the last three years, I’ve been mocking sovereign citizens,” Miller said. “I’ve actually been critical of anti-government behavior. That’s why I’ve been involved in trying to better government.”
Bianco himself was previously a dues-paying member of the Oath Keepers. He has said the group as a whole should not be characterized, as it often is, as an anti-government militia. Members of the Oath Keepers were involved in the Bundy Ranch standoff with federal officials. Four members were sentenced for forcing their way into the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
Miller said his arrest and the subsequent headlines have hurt his career. His IMDB page listing his show-business credits now includes a news article about his arrest.
“You Google your name, and your 30 years of work, imagine that’s buried for 30 pages” behind stories about his arrest, Miller said. “It’s been a complete character assassination.”
A security officer attempted to throw him out of Turning Point’s AmericaFest in December, based on a cursory search of Miller’s name online, he said.
“I have to explain to people constantly that I’m not this person,” Miller said.
After the arrest, which made international headlines, he said he’s received death threats and harassment on social media.
“It’s always based upon what Bianco said, how he lied,” Miller said.
He shared screenshots of Instagram private messages accusing him of being part of a conspiracy to kill Trump, calling him “lying vermin” and a coward.
He’s also received threatening emails with language that includes “iwillkillyou” in the email address, he said.
According to Miller, his elderly parents, who still live in Las Vegas, have been traumatized. The Las Vegas Police Department showed up at his parents’ home on Oct. 14, he said, for a “wellness check.” Without a warrant, according to Miller, officers attempted to force their way into his parents’ home, only leaving after a friend of Miller’s called the governor and chief of police.
“Imagine you’re a little old lady,” Miller said. “She’s 77, my dad’s 80. You have 12 anti-terrorism police officers trying to barge into your home.”
On his website, Miller now has a section called “The 3rd Assassin Hoax.” The page collects videos and blog posts decrying his arrest by Bianco, whom he says tried to use Miller’s arrest to raise his profile ahead of a possible run for governor of California.
“Bianco was an Oath Keeper. Next thing you know, he’s kneeling for BLM. Next thing you know, you’re saying you’ve got to put a felon in the White House, blah blah blah,” Miller said. “Bianco’s like a chameleon; whatever will get him votes.”
Miller is due back in court on his criminal charges on March 11.
Staff writer Brian Rokos contributed to this story.
More about Vem Miller and Chad Bianco
- Riverside County sheriff acknowledges he was dues-paying member of Oath Keepers
- Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco could run for governor in 2026
- ‘It’s time we put a felon in the White House;’ Riverside County sheriff endorses Trump in snarky video
- Can Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco become California’s governor in 2026?
- Thousands flock to see Donald Trump rally near Coachella
- Man with guns arrested near Trump rally in Coachella; Riverside sheriff says they stopped assassination attempt
- Man arrested with weapons near Trump rally in Coachella doubles down on support for ex-president
- Who is Vem Miller, the man arrested outside California Trump rally with weapons?
- Man arrested with weapons outside Trump’s Riverside County rally sues sheriff over ‘assassination attempt’ comments