Armed man arrested at Trump's California campaign event at Coachella.

 

The Trump rally at Coachella California. New York Post/USA Today.

An armed man was arrested at Donald Trump's campaign event at Coachella California, raising fears of another assassination attempt. New York Post. The 49 year old suspect is named Vem Miller and was arrested after presenting a phony press pass. He was discovered with a handgun, shotgun and California illegal magazine, along with additional phony documents. The local sheriff, Chad Bianco, said that the incident was a third assassination attempt on Donald Trump. However, both the Secret Service and the FBI do not believe this was one and the suspect says the idea that he was an attempted assassination was "complete bullshit". Miller was able to talk to the press because he was released on a $5000 bond. Miller is a member of the Sovereign Citizens movement, which does not recognize federal authority over citizens. Ironically, the FBI says that Miller was not attempting to assassinate Trump and said that he had the weapons for personal protection only. 

EDIT: Fox News has put up an interview with Miller who denies he is a Sovereign Citizen, says his documents are legit and says he would never harm Trump because he supports him. 

My Comment:

Strange story out of California and one that is fairly confusing. There is a pretty dramatic disagreement between this local sheriff and the federal government as to what this guy was trying to do. Was he trying to attack Donald Trump? Did he have some other plan? Or was he just an idiot that decided to go to a Trump rally with guns in his vehicle and fake documents? 

Miller is a Sovereign Citizen and admittedly that group is fairly dangerous. However they don't seem to be the kind of folks that would assassinate a presidential candidate. They don't recognize federal or state authority so the folks most at risk from Sovereign Citizens are people that enforce that authority, like local police or federal agents. 

I have actually met a few Sovereign Citizens and, hilariously enough, despite the stereotype of them being angry White guys, in both cases they were black men. I never got the idea that they were really dangerous, just very misguided and with little actual understanding of the law. Indeed, one of them sued the company they were working for because they took money out for federal taxes. I never heard how that case played out but I can't imagine it did well.  

I don't know why a Sovereign Citizen would want to harm Donald Trump. I don't think they would like him since he's trying to be in charge of the federal government, but to attack him? It doesn't make sense to me. There are people on the "right" that don't like Trump, but they are either neocons that have largely been kicked out of the Republican Party or out and out white nationalists like Nick Fuentes that hate Trump because he isn't racist. 

The only thing that makes me think that this could be legit is the fact that he had fake documents to try and get into the media area. It's very possible that was just him being an idiot, trying to scam his way to better seats, but it's also possible that he wanted to get close enough to get a shot at Trump. It was a terrible plan regardless, he wasn't going to fool the people working security and even if he did it would have been very hard to get a gun that close to a former President. 

I actually think that the FBI and Secret Service is right, this was not an assassination attempt. The fact that this guy is out on bail is a big hint that nobody really thinks this was a real attempt. I am guessing that the local sheriff is trying to hype up what his guys did, which, to be fair, was good police work. I don't see Miller getting charged with anything other than the gun crimes he committed. 

What do  I think actually happened? Well, Miller is the kind of person that thinks that the rules don't apply to him so he printed out fake documents because he wanted to see the Trump rally up close. He had guns in his car because of course he did, he's a Sovereign Citizen and they generally don't recognize any gun laws, especially the ones in California. Security caught him with his fake documents and the sheriff is hyping the story for local political reasons. 

Still, under the current political climate, can anyone be blamed for being nervous about this situation? There is no question in my mind that Miller is absolutely the kind of guy you don't want anywhere near a presidential candidate that has already undergone two assassination attempts, one of which injured him. I am certainly glad that they were able to catch this guy even though I think it is unlikely that this was an actual attempt on Donald Trump's life...