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Man arrested outside Trump event in Calif. over illegal possession of guns

The Secret Service said Donald Trump was not in danger after the suspect Vem Miller was arrested outside the former president’s rally in Coachella, Calif., held Saturday.

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Members of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department stand guard during a rally that former president Donald Trump held in Coachella, Calif., on Saturday. (Mike Blake/Reuters)
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A man was arrested in Riverside County, Calif., and charged with illegal possession of a loaded firearm and a high-capacity magazine after he tried to enter a rally Donald Trump held in the desert area in Coachella, sheriff’s officials announced Sunday.

The man, whom police questioned as he approached the venue in his car, claimed he was a journalist and had VIP access, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said during a news conference Sunday. Trump was not yet at the event when the man was arrested outside the venue Saturday, Bianco said.

The sheriff’s office gave the suspect’s name as Vem Miller, 49, of Las Vegas but cautioned that he had multiple IDs and passports with different names. He was released after posting a $5,000 bond Saturday, jail records show.

Bianco said his office “prevented another assassination attempt,” but federal law enforcement does not appear so far to be treating this incident as such. Local law enforcement provided no evidence Sunday indicating that Miller had been seeking to harm Trump.

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