"We have avoided the third assassination attempt against Donald Trump ." The words of the sheriff of Riverside County, California , come as yet another blow to the electoral campaign less than a month before the vote, following the arrest, on Saturday, of an armed man at the tycoon's rally in Coachella.

A person who appears to belong to a well-known far-right group, 'Sovereign Citizens' : some of its members participated in the assault on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021 .

Once again a disturbing event that fortunately did not cause any victims but which leaves many questions open about the political climate in the United States .

49-year-old Vem Miller , this is the name given by the suspect who could be false, was stopped aboard an SUV armed with a pistol and a high-capacity magazine , the kind that Joe Biden wants to ban, when he was already very close to where the stage was located but before the tycoon arrived in the area.

"The episode had no impact on the former president's safety," Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a press conference. The man managed to get past the first, more lenient checkpoints by pretending to be an accredited journalist; at the second checkpoint, however, the agents became suspicious.

"The interior of the car was a mess, the license plate was fake, and several passports were found in the drawers," the sheriff explained, as well as the membership card of 'Sovereign Citizens', a group known to law enforcement for its hate speech and violence.

"These are people who don't believe in the government, people on the fringes ," the sheriff explained, specifying that in his opinion he is a "crazy man. It doesn't matter what party."

On the Anti-Defamation League website, the movement is defined as "extremist and anti-government. It believes the government is the product of an illegitimate conspiracy."

At least one of their members, Taylor James Johnatakis, was sentenced to seven years for attacking police officers during the insurrection against Congress four years ago. At his trial last year, the judge who sentenced him said he was astonished by the man's lack of remorse.

The motive for this third attempted murder of Trump in the space of a few months - after Pennsylvania and Florida - is not yet known and the investigation has been taken over by the Secret Service and the FBI, who will mainly have the task of monitoring the individual released on bail until his court hearing on November 2.

(Unioneonline/vl)

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