Trump in third 'assassination scare' as man arrested at rally with guns and fake passes in California
13 October 2024, 21:42 | Updated: 14 October 2024, 00:01
An armed man was arrested at a Donald Trump rally on Saturday - as police say the suspect was possibly about to make an attempt on the former President's life.
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Local police made the arrest outside the rally in Coachella Valley, California, on Saturday.
The man was reportedly armed with guns and fake press passes, according to the New York Post quoting a local sheriff.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said: “We probably stopped another assassination attempt."
Sheriff Bianco told a press conference on Sunday: "We prevented something bad from happening, and it's irrelevant what that bad was going to be"
"The arrested man, gave his name to police as 'Vem Miller' - but he had multiple identity documents inside the car, and claimed to be journalist for VIP event. He is believed to be a member of the far-right group Sovereign Citizens' Group - followers believe that rules do not apply to them. ..." I am not going to say as a whole that group is a violent group."
"If they are ever able to prove it was an assassination attempt ,that will be a federal matter."
He was intercepted by a police checkpoint about half a mile from the rally stage.
“They were different enough to cause the deputies alarm,” Bianco said, according to local press reports.
The New York Post reports that Miller was plotting to kill Trump because of his right-wing anti-government views, according to Bianco.
Trump has been the target of two other assassination attempts in 2024.
He was hit in the ear by a sniper at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in April.
Secret Service agents then foiled a second attempt in August at Mr Trump's golf course in Florida.
Mr Trump returned to the site of his near-miss last week - accompanied with Tesla founder Elon Musk.
The former president and Republican nominee urged the crowd to deliver an Election Day victory - which he tied to his survival of the shooting.
He began his speech with, "As I was saying," and gestured toward an immigration chart he was looking at when the gunfire began.
"Twelve weeks ago, we all took a bullet for America," Mr Trump said.
"All we are all asking is that everyone goes out and votes. We got to win. We can't let this happen to our country."
The Mr Trump campaign worked to maximise the event's headline-grabbing potential with just 30 days to go and voting already underway in some states in his race against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
