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Local cops arrested an armed man outside a Donald Trump rally in California on Saturday, and the local sheriff has doubled down on claims that a third assassination attempt was prevented — even though he let the suspect walk after posting a meager bail for gun charges.
“I truly do believe we prevented another assassination attempt,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told reporters Sunday, a day after suspect Vem Miller was arrested at a checkpoint outside Trump’s rally in Coachella Valley.
Miller, 49, was caught at a police checkpoint allegedly trying to enter the rally with a phony press pass. When cops noticed his car was unregistered, they searched the vehicle and discovered a cache of fake passports and driver’s licenses, along with a shotgun, a loaded handgun and a high-capacity magazine, officials said.
He was soon booked on weapons charges, and sprung after posting $5,000 bail, but the sheriff turned around and told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that his department had all but saved Trump’s life.
Federal agencies, however, appear to disagree.
The Secret Service believes it unlikely Miller was attempting to assassinate the president, and the FBI is not investigating it as such, sources told The Post, noting Miller is a member of an anti-government far-right group and probably had the weapons for personal defense alone.
The Secret Service later said Trump wasn’t at risk during the rally.
“The US Secret Service assesses that the incident did not impact protective operations and former President Trump was not in any danger,” the agency and the FBI said in a joint statement. “While no federal arrest has been made at this time, the investigation is ongoing.”
Miller reportedly asked for a lawyer after the FBI tried to interview him, and briefly told reporters that claims he was an assassin were “complete bulls–t.”
But the sheriff stood by his initial assessment while speaking to the press Sunday — calling Miller a “lunatic” and suggesting the country might also be for suggesting the lawman was “being dramatic.”
“What his frame of mind was, all we can do is speculate,” Bianco said. “If you’re asking me right now, I probably did have deputies that prevented the third assassination attempt.