Inset: Vem Miller speaking to reporters at a press conference Tuesday, March 11, 2025 (KCAL/YouTube). Background: Donald Trump speaking at his campaign rally in Coachella, Calif., on Oct. 12, 2024 (WFAA/YouTube).
A self-proclaimed “MAGA” supporter who sued cops last year after they accused him of being “would-be Trump assassin” after he was allegedly caught with two loaded firearms at one of the president’s rallies in California has filed another federal lawsuit, insisting that police falsely labeled him a “lunatic” and attempted murderer, despite the fact that he “never said that he wants to kill the president,” according to the man’s lawyer.
This time, Nevada resident Vem Miller is suing for a whopping $100 million in his new federal defamation case against Sheriff Chad Bianco and Riverside County officials for his arrest last October at Trump’s rally in Coachella Valley. On Feb. 27, Miller voluntarily dismissed his original 2024 lawsuit that he filed in Nevada after learning that he was required by California law to seek damages in the Golden State on account of Bianco and the other defendants living there, according to his attorney Ethan Bearman, who spoke at a press conference Tuesday after filing Miller’s complaint in California’s Central District.
“Mr. Miller has never said that he wants to kill the president,” Bearman told reporters. “These are not words he spoke. That is a false statement of fact.”
According to Miller’s complaint, Bianco and other local officials “falsely stated the Mr. Miller had extremist affiliations” and was a “would-be Trump assassin” who showed up to the rally that day with weapons and an intent to cause harm. His complaint also claims they “falsely called Mr. Miller a ‘lunatic.””
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release that deputies assigned to Trump’s rally stopped Miller at a checkpoint and found him to be “illegally in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine.” Bianco later claimed that he believed his office “prevented a third assassination attempt” against Trump that day.
Miller claims he was attempting to enter a parking lot about half a mile from the rally venue when he informed a deputy guarding the area that he had two firearms in his vehicle, both of which he intended to leave inside of his parked vehicle. He says he was almost immediately handcuffed and placed into the back of a patrol vehicle without him saying anything about Trump or assassinating him. Miller also claims deputies “proceeded to conduct an unlawful and unconstitutional search of all compartments of the vehicle, retrieving Miller’s personal documentation and other personal items,” despite not receiving permission to look inside.
“I am a Trump supporter, I’ve been helping with MAGA for a very long time,” Miller said Tuesday at the presser. “And now I face myself with a no-win situation. Every day I get some sort of text or message insinuating threats against myself and my family.”
Miller alleges that Bianco — who is also an avid Trump supporter — made false and defamatory claims about the incident in a bid to “boost his own political career,” according to his complaint. “Defendant Bianco took advantage of a perceived golden opportunity to boost his own political career and jumpstart his campaign for Governor of California by falsely claiming he stopped an attempted assassination of President Trump, demonstrating an outrageous, reckless disregard for Mr. Miller and his rights,” the complaint says.
Like his first lawsuit in Nevada, Miller alleges he was subjected to deprivation of his civil rights, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, and false light invasion of privacy. He was charged with one misdemeanor count each of possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
“The aftermath of being falsely accused as an attempted presidential assassin has been utterly devastating to Mr. Miller,” his complaint says. “Destroying his previous work opportunities, receiving threats which have led him into hiding, his parents’ home (property) being raided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department,” the filing alleges. “His ex-wife used those allegations to prevent him from having any contact with his own children, and, to this day, [he is] consistently receiving multiple weekly threats and harassment.”
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Miller’s Instagram page shows him posing in photos with multiple Trump-aligned figures such as Stephen Miller, Newt Gingrich, Robert Kennedy Jr., and Roger Stone, among others.
He told reporters Tuesday that the accusations against him have forced Miller to “alter” how he does things, especially when it comes to his family.
“My parents are deeply traumatized by this,” Miller said. “I’ve had just consistent threats, innuendoes via social media, via text message, sometimes on a daily level. … Like even at the press conference today, it was just unnerving to be back in Riverside and just having to watch my back consistently all the time.”
Attempts by Law&Crime to reach Bianco and Riverside officials for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.
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Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
