Man arrested near Trump rally denies trying to assassinate former president

Vem Miller, the man arrested near former President Donald Trump's rally in Coachella, California, on Saturday, denied in an online video Monday that he tried to assassinate Trump.

Miller, 49, of Nevada, who was arrested a quarter-mile from the rally on federal weapons charges, said he was a longtime Trump supporter. He said he was invited to the rally by Republican officials in Nevada and that “police in the area have made false and defamatory statements.”

“I am Trump’s caucus captain. “I collected votes for Donald Trump and am also a Trump team leader,” Miller said in the video. “So I decided to come to Coachella after receiving a special invitation from members of the Nevada Republican Party.”

NBC News was unable to confirm Miller's claim that he worked as a Trump caucus captain or Trump team leader and was invited to the rally.

In an interview later in the day, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco stood by his statements that his deputies may have prevented a third attempt to assassinate Trump.

“We know he showed up with multiple forms of identification, an unregistered, unregistered vehicle with fake license plates, and weapons and ammunition,” Bianco said in an interview with NBC Los Angeles. “We ended up finding the person with all these monstrous red flags and were able to arrest him on weapons violations and get him out of the facility before the president got there.”

Federal law enforcement officials have said they are investigating the incident but have not filed charges against Miller.

“The U.S. Secret Service believes the incident had no impact on protective measures and that former President Trump was not in danger,” Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for Central California, said Sunday. “Although there has been no federal arrest at this time, the investigation remains ongoing.”

A federal police official said there was no evidence that there was an attempt to assassinate Trump.

Miller said after he arrived at the rally, he was told to go to a special entrance where there was parking. Miller said he had two guns in the trunk of his car, but he only carried them to defend himself.

“One of them is a Glock; One of them is a shotgun,” he says. “And these two firearms that I have with me are simply for protection.”

Bianco denied Miller's claims. “If he's going to say that he was an innocent victim, then he has to also say how stupid it was to think that he could do all of that and try to use weapons to get into this case,” Bianco said. “I don’t care if he’s a supporter of President Trump.”

“I am very proud of my deputies and everything they have done there,” Bianco added. “We’re not making up anything he did; We just caught him.”

Towards the end of the hour and 15 minute video, Miller accused local police officers of “smearing my name as a potential assassin.”

“I mean, this is just absolutely crazy, absolutely crazy,” he said. “And so I would like to conclude by saying that everything you have heard from these police departments is an absolute lie. Everything I told you is 100% true. And verifiable by evidence.”