USA police say they have thwarted a third assassination attempt against former US president Donald Trump.
A Las Vegas man was arrested with weapons and fake passes near a Sunday rally by Trump in Coachella Valley, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said.
The man, named as Vem Miller, arrived at a checkpoint and was found to have a shotgun, loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.
Bianco said that he believes Miller — who he said is a member of a right–leaning anti-government group planned to kill Trump and that deputies thwarted the plan when Miller presented fake VIP and press passes at a checkpoint.
“They were different enough to cause the deputies alarm,” Bianco told the group. “We probably stopped another assassination attempt.”
Bianco said Miller considers himself a so-called sovereign citizen, a group of people who do not believe they are subject to any government statutes unless they consent to them.
Miller was taken into custody for possessing a loaded firearm and a high-capacity magazine. However, he was released on Sunday after posting US$5000 bail for each of his two misdemeanours, as indicated by police records.
The recent development comes as Trump campaign remains on high alert following two previous assassination attempts against the former president.
The first was at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 when a 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump in his right ear before being shot dead by Secret Service.
Just two months later, on August 15, a second attempt followed as a 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested in Florida after allegedly aiming a rifle at Trump while he was golfing.
