MAGA fan slaps sheriff who accused him of third Trump assassination attempt with $100M defamation lawsuit

The man branded as a third attempted assassin trying to take out Donald Trump launched an eye-popping multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the sheriff who continues to peddle that narrative, which the man denies.

Vem Miller, vehemently denies claims made by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and filed a lawsuit this month against him, the county and the sheriff's office seeking $100 million.

Bianco, who is now a Republican candidate for California governor in the 2026 election, has repeated claims that he stopped a third assassination attempt as frequently as last weekend, Miller's attorney tells DailyMail.com.

The plaintiff claims Bianco engaged in 'intentional defamation through media statements' after verbally and in writing insisting that Miller attempted to assassinate President Trump despite the FBI and Secret Service concluding that was not his motive.

An attorney for Miller told DailyMail.com that his 'civil rights were violated, and he was defamed per se by the top law enforcement officer in Riverside County.'

'This cannot be allowed to stand unchecked and Mr. Miller asks the court to hold the defendants fully accountable for their egregious actions.'

Ethan Bearman, Miller's lawyer, revealed that Bianco was still spewing claims about Miller as recently as this month.

But Bianco, who declined to comment on the lawsuit in general, told DailyMail.com that he only relays facts about the incident.

'When asked I tell people all the time about what he did,' he said, adding: 'Facts are facts.'

The sheriff said he has told people that Miller went to a rally with 'two unregistered firearms, multiple boxes of ammunition' and was arrested.

In mid-October, Trump held a campaign rally in Coachella, California. Sheriff Bianco and his force were helping other federal and local agencies secure the location around the rally site.

Miller, a Nevada resident, reached a check-point when driving to the VIP parking lot for the rally that day where law enforcement were directing traffic. Miller approached and alerted the officers of two firearms in his vehicle.

Coming off the backs of two separate assassination attempts against Trump in Pennsylvania in July and then in Florida in September last year, security around the candidate and former president was already at an all-time-high at the October rally with a nearly mile-wide perimeter.

Miller, while entering that perimeter for the rally, was subsequently arrested, taken into custody and booked by the Riverside County Sheriff's Office. He pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor gun charges in January.

Just hours after the incident the FBI and Secret Service declared that Bianco did not pose a legitimate threat to the president.

'The U.S. Secret Service assesses that the incident did not impact protective operations and former President Trump was not in any danger,' the agency wrote in a joint statement with the. FBI. 'While no federal arrest has been made at this time, the investigation is ongoing.'

Still, Sheriff Bianco was on a media blitz claiming to local and national outlets that his deputies thwarted a third assassination attempt. He repeated the sentiment in a press conference on October 13.

The morning after the arrest for the gun charges and just hours before the press conference, Bianco sent a text message to an Epoch Times reporter claiming: 'We arrested a man trying to get in the perimeter with two firearms who ended up saying he was going to kill the president.'

Miller's attorney Ethan Bearman tells DailyMail.com that his client denies ever saying this.

He claims there were a minimum of five instances when Bianco told national and local news outlets that Miller was attempting to assassinate Trump at his rally.

'There were at least 5 times that Sheriff Bianco made false statements to the media about Mr. Miller,' Bearman recalls. 'These aren't just false statements, but defamation per se under California law.'

'By the time Sheriff Bianco held his press conference he knew the falsity, or with reckless disregard for the truth, of his accusation of a third attempted Trump assassination,' he noted in reference to the media event the sheriff held at 3:00 p.m. on October 13, 2024.

Bearman says this case is 'one of the most egregious examples of defamation that I have ever seen.'

The case, his attorney claims, could be further bolstered after new evidence emerged this month. 

According to Miller's lawyer, a person at a GOP event in Sacramento last weekend said that Bianco, who was in attendance as he made a bid for governor of the Golden State, was still going around spouting 'lies' about Miller at the conference.

This person is willing to testify that this happened and is preparing to make and file a declaration to that effect. 

The lawsuit alleges that the Sheriff's Department violated Miller's Fourth Amendment rights by performing a non consensual medical examination when they carried out an x-ray scan.

Millers' First Amendment rights of being able to attend a political rally were also infringed upon that day, the lawsuit claims

Filed on March 10, 2025, the suit claims that Sheriff Bianco knew and disregarded the truth on several occasions when he said outright or suggested in public that Miller was going to make an attempt on Trump's life in contrary to official findings.

This, according to the filing, included that the 'FBI and Secret Service declined to interview Mr. Miller because he was deemed to be non-threatening.'

The suit also claims 'Defendant Bianco knew the federal agencies had dismissed assassination theory.'

Miller was arrested and detained on the spot on October 12 after law enforcement identified in his vehicle a shotgun, loaded handgun and high capacity magazine. 

Sheriff Bianco told DailyMail.com when he was reached by phone that same month that there were other 'red flags' about Miller that made him and his deputies decide to take him into custody.

He alleged that Miller had a fake license plate and multiple IDs with different variations of his name, which raised alarm bells once coupled with the self-identification of weapons.

Since booking Miller back in October, Bianco has on multiple occasions referred to the Trump fan as the 'third assassin.'

Miller was born in Canada with an Armenian last name, which his parents still have.

The Trump supporter came to the U.S. and became a citizen years ago – and more recently legally changed his surname to the much-more American-sounding 'Miller.'

Not only were both of Miller's passports government-issued and legitimate, but he also had on his person at the time of his arrest a Nevada court order for his legal name change since his last name was different on the identifications.

Bearman told DailyMail.com that he had no fake IDs and the lawsuit claims Miller received 'discriminatory treatment based on ethnic background.'

On July 13, 2024, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, shot Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

With blood streaming from his ear and onto his face, Trump was rushed off stage by Secret Service.

Two rally attendees were critically injured by the rifle's bullets and another, 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, died while shielding his wife and two daughters from the gunfire. The family attended Trump's joint session address to Congress earlier this month.

Crooks was killed by counter snipers who took him out before he was able to cause more damage.

This incident was the first assassination attempt on Trump's life.

Almost exactly two months later on September 15, 2024, the then-past-president's life was again in danger when Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested for a second assassination attempt.

The gunman poked his rifle's barrel through the shrubs of Trump's golf course in Palm Beach, Florida while he was playing a round.

Secret Service detail spotted the barrel and shot in the direction of the gunman, causing him to flee.

A bystander reported the vehicle outside Trump's golf course, altering local law enforcement who were then able to track down, chase and arrest Routh.

In October, when firearms were found in Miller's car at a rally, officials and media were quick to brand him as yet another assassin trying to take out Trump before the 2024 election.

Miller, however, insists he is a huge Trump fan.

Speaking with DailyMail.com in October, Miller detailed how he had attended several Trump rallies and was a caucus captain in Nevada working to get him reelected for a second term.

He blames Sheriff Bianco for the rhetoric prevailing that he was trying to target Trump.

Miller claims this has led to death threats, a raid on his parents' home and a slew of other security issues.

Just days after the incident, Miller filed a defamation lawsuit against Bianco after he and his deputies claimed they 'probably' prevented a third assassination attempt on Trump.

'The reason why this thing was filed so quickly [is] because, you know, as a result of what's happened, my life is in danger now,' Miller told DailyMail.com at the time.

'I've been told by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department that because of some of these headline readers that haven't discovered that this thing's entirely a fraud, there could be some mentally imbalanced individuals that would do something – like almost like the Lee Harvey Oswald-Jack Ruby situation, where I'm potentially killed by an individual as a way of somebody who might be mentally unstable to protect Donald Trump,' he explained.

The Sheriff speculated that the whole ordeal involving Miller is 'staged,' claiming he doesn't understand why others weren't able to recognize the suspicion surrounding his actions before the rally.

'Probably the fastest lawsuit filed in history; the next business day,' Bianco said when asked about the swiftness of the first lawsuit against him.

'One could argue it was already prepared and planned,' he added. 'It just gets more odd.'

Miller says Bianco was just interested in being a 'media darling' and insists he is taking legal action due to concern for his life and in an effort to clear his name.

The current lawsuit is essentially a refile of the one Miller made in Nevada in the wake of his arrest.

The current filing was brought in the correct jurisdiction of California and went through the proper channels, which require a period of notifying the defendants of intent to sue. This comes with a potentially months-long period allowing the defendants to deny the claims made in the complaint.