A Las Vegas man was arrested outside a Trump rally. Now, he’s filed a lawsuit

A Las Vegas man filed a lawsuit against the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Tuesday, alleging that officers violated his constitutional rights when he was arrested Saturday outside a California rally for former President Donald Trump after authorities said he was found with loaded guns.

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 lawsuit.

Miller’s arrest comes weeks before the presidential election and in the wake of what authorities have labeled apparent assassination attempts against Trump, one last month when the Secret Service discovered a gun sticking through shrubbery near where the former president was playing golf in Florida and another in July when he was shot by a bullet that grazed his ear during a rally in Pennsylvania.

“Humiliation and destruction”

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.”

“We acknowledge the lawsuit filed against the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and take such matters seriously. However, as it is pending litigation, we cannot comment on the specifics at this time,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “We are committed to transparency and will cooperate fully with the legal process. Our priority remains the safety and well-being of the community we serve.”

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.

“Whenever I try to get a job, people are going to see my name as a potential third assassin and then you think they’re going to offer me a job?,” Miller said in a Wednesday phone interview with the Review-Journal.

Suit: feds didn’t want interview

Miller, represented by Las Vegas attorney and Republican National Committeewoman Sigal Chattah, said in the civil complaint that he 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.”

Miller described the impact on him as significant.

“Essentially,” he said, “my life’s been carpet bombed.”

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.