Sheriff doubles down on Vem Miller ‘red flags’ after MAGA ‘lunatic’ is arrested at Trump rally with loaded gun
Vem Miller was “crazy” for thinking he could show up to a Donald Trump rally with a loaded gun and several other “major red flags,” said the local sheriff who insists he helped thwart a third assassination attempt.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco doubled down in an interview with DailyMail.com, leading him to believe Miller could have been planning something nefarious for Trump’s Saturday rally.
Miller, 49, was arrested by Bianco’s department outside Trump’s Coachella event when a shotgun, a loaded handgun and a high-capacity magazine were discovered in his vehicle during a checkpoint.
After posting $10,000 bail, the Las Vegas resident was released.
Other items of concern found on Miller included a “fake license plate,” multiple IDs with variations of his name and two firearms, the sheriff said.
Bianco immediately said his officers “probably” helped prevent a third assassination attempt on the former president by capturing Miller.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told DailyMail.com that there were several “red flags” that led to the search and arrest of Vem Miller at a Trump rally on Saturday
But the sheriff received a slew of backlash online for this comment, with many claiming it was too serious a claim to throw around.
“I don’t know how, maybe I’m not explaining it properly or something,” Sheriff Bianco told DailyMail.com. “But those are big, big, big warning signs.”
“That’s not normal,” he insisted. “A normal person doesn’t show up to a Trump event knowing the security, the increased security that’s going to be there with all the different problems and loaded weapons. There’s no point.’
After reports emerged of Bianco calling Miller a lunatic, he doubled down.
“Anyone who thinks that’s OK must be a lunatic,” he said. “There is no one with any common sense or sense who can believe that it is okay to show up with a fake license plate on an unregistered vehicle, with multiple forms of identification and loaded weapons. I find this bizarre, that that could even be the case, that anyone in their right mind could say, Oh, that’s okay.
Miller has defended himself in a video posted to Rumble and during conversations with right-wing media personalities and outlets.
Vem Miller, 49, was arrested Saturday near Donald Trump’s rally in Coachella, California, after firearms and high-capacity magazines were discovered in his car during a checkpoint investigation
Trump has been speaking behind bulletproof glass at his outdoor rallies since the July 13 assassination attempt on him in Butler, Pennsylvania. Pictured: Trump at his rally in Coachella, California on October 12, 2024
“My position is that a normal person who doesn’t do anything wrong doesn’t show up with all the red flags he did and try to get into that event,” Bianco said. “So we probably could have prevented a third assassination attempt? I believe so, because we all absolutely cannot fathom what was in his head, what his intentions were.”
“And now he’s been released – and of course he’s going to say what he thinks he has to say, mainly to deny it,” he added. “I mean, I don’t blame him. I mean that would be normal for me too.’
“So I definitely stand by what I said,” the sheriff insisted.
Miller was charged with two misdemeanor counts of illegal firearms possession and ordered to post $5,000 bail on each charge.
He has a court hearing scheduled for early January.