Armed man held as police disrupt 'assassination plot'

Police at Donald Trump's rally on Saturday in Coachella Valley, California, stopped what a sheriff suggested might have been a third assassination attempt against the former president.

- JOSH MARCUS

Deputies stopped suspect Vem Miller in a black SUV around 1700 local time [GMT 0000] about half a mile from the rally, after he allegedly managed to make it through an initial security checkpoint by claiming VIP and media credentials.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said at a press conference yesterday that at a second stop, a deputy noticed that Mr Miller’s SUV was in “disarray” with an “obviously fake” license plate, prompting deputies to investigate further.

Police then found that Mr Miller allegedly had multiple drivers licenses and passports with different names and possessed a loaded handgun and shotgun, both unregistered. Sheriff Bianco said the markings on the licence plate indicated Mr Miller was part of “a group of individuals that claim to be ‘sovereign citizens,’” a right-wing movement that doesn’t believe in the legitimacy of the government.

Mr Miller was described in a police press release as a 49-yearold resident of Las Vegas.

“Miller was taken into custody without incident and later booked at the John J Benoit Detention Center for possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine,” the sheriff’s office said in the release. “This incident did not impact the safety of former president Trump or attendees of the event.”