By Noble Brigham
Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS — The Las Vegas man arrested Saturday after authorities said he was found with loaded guns outside a California rally for former President Donald Trump filed a federal lawsuit against the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Tuesday, alleging officers violated his constitutional rights.
Vem Miller, 49, was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor charges: possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine.
“I probably did have deputies that prevented the third assassination attempt,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said during a news conference Sunday afternoon.
Bianco is also a defendant in the suit.
Miller, a 2022 Republican candidate for the Nevada Assembly, has told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he’s a Trump supporter and called the notion that he was planning an assassination attempt “ridiculous.”
In the suit, filed in Nevada, Miller alleged that officers violated his First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights to privacy and freedom from unlawful search and seizure.
The defendants’ actions “resulted in the financial ruin, humiliation and destruction of Miller’s life and livelihood,” the suit said.
Miller, represented by Las Vegas attorney and Republican National Committeewoman Sigal Chattah, said in the civil complaint that Miller legally owned the guns found in his vehicle and had disclosed them to a police officer.
The officer had him pull over, according to the lawsuit, and another officer instructed Miller to get out of his vehicle. As soon as he did so, he was handcuffed and put in a patrol vehicle, the suit said.
An officer “then proceeded to conduct an unlawful and unconstitutional search of all compartments of the vehicle,” the suit claimed.
Secret Service and FBI agents met with the officer who searched Miller’s vehicle, but had no interest in interviewing Miller, according to the suit.
Bianco knew that, Miller alleged in the complaint.
Yet, the suit said, “Bianco did not miss an opportunity to fabricate allegations against Miller, going on numerous news outlets, claiming to have thwarted a third assassination attempt against Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump .”
The sheriff wanted to be known as a hero who saved Trump, Miller claimed.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Secret Service and FBI are aware of the Riverside Sheriff’s County Office’s arrest on Saturday,” the three federal agencies said in a joint statement Sunday. “The U.S. Secret Service assesses that the incident did not impact protective operations and former President Trump was not in any danger. While no federal arrest was made at this time, the investigation is ongoing.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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