Man arrested near Trump rally denies he was trying to assassinate the former president

Vem Miller, the man arrested near former President Donald Trump’s rally Saturday in Coachella, California, denied in an online video Monday that he was trying to assassinate Trump. 

Miller, 49, of Nevada, who was arrested on state weapons charges a quarter-mile from the rally, said he is a longtime supporter of Trump. He said that he was invited to the rally by Republican officials in Nevada and that “false and defamatory statements have been released by the police in the region.”

“I’m a Trump caucus captain. I’ve collected votes for Donald Trump, and I’m also a Trump team leader,” Miller said in the video. “It is with that that I decided to come to Coachella after receiving a special invitation from members of the Nevada Republican Party.”

NBC News was not able to verify Miller’s claim that he worked as a Trump caucus captain or a Trump team leader and that he was invited to the rally.

In an interview later in the day, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco stood by his statements that his deputies may have prevented a third attempt to assassinate Trump.

“We do know that he showed up with multiple IDs, an unlicensed, unregistered vehicle with fake plates and weapons and ammunition,” Bianco said in an interview with NBC Los Angeles. “In the end, we found the person with all those monstrous red flags and we were able to arrest him on weapons charges and get him away from the facility before the president got there.”

Federal law enforcement officials have said they are investigating the incident but have not filed charges against Miller.

“The U.S. Secret Service assesses that the incident did not impact protective operations and former President Trump was not in any danger,” Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for Central California, said Sunday. “While no federal arrest has been made at this time, the investigation is ongoing.”

A federal law enforcement official said there is no indication that there was an attempt to assassinate Trump.

Miller said that after he arrived at the rally, he was told to go toward a special entrance where there was parking. Miller said that he had two firearms in the trunk of his car but that he carries them only to defend himself.

“One is a Glock; one is a shotgun,” he says. “And these two firearms that I carry with me are simply for protection.” 

Bianco dismissed Miller’s claims. “If he wants to say he was an innocent victim, then he also has to say how dumb it was to come out to believe that he could do all of those and try to get into that event with guns,” Bianco said. “I don’t care if he’s a supporter of President Trump.”

“I’m very proud of my deputies and everything that they did there,” Bianco added. “We’re not making up anything that he did; we just caught him.”

Miller, near the end of the one-hour, 15-minute video, accused local law enforcement officials of “slandering my name as a potential assassin.” 

“I mean, that is just absolutely insane, absolutely insane,” he said. “And so, I end this with saying that everything you’ve heard coming from these police departments is an absolute lie. Everything I have told you is 100% true. And verifiable by the evidence.”