Federal authorities are investigating after a man with guns in his vehicle was arrested Saturday after he was stopped at a checkpoint near a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump.

The Justice Department said Sunday that the Secret Service and the FBI are investigating the incident in Coachella, California, about a quarter-mile from the rally venue.

“The U.S. Secret Service assesses that the incident did not impact protective operations and former President Trump was not in any danger,” Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for Central California, said in a statement. “While no federal arrest has been made at this time, the investigation is ongoing.”

A federal law enforcement official said there is no indication that there was an attempt to assassinate Trump.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said at a news conference Sunday that the man in question was stopped around 5 p.m. local time Saturday at a checkpoint to enter the “inside perimeter” of security protecting the venue, where all vehicles were to be stopped, when a deputy noticed his SUV was disheveled inside and displayed “an obviously fake license plate.”

Deputies found two unregistered firearms — a shotgun and a loaded handgun — and “multiple boxes of ammunition,” Bianco said.

The venue is a ranch used for competition and practice by the Empire Polo Club, which gave its previous home venue, in adjacent Indio, to concert promoters behind the noted Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.

The man who was stopped, identified as Vem Miller, said he was invited to the rally by another attendee and, at the same time, was permitted to attend as a journalist, Bianco said. Deputies found multiple fake identification cards, including passports, under different names in the SUV.

Miller, 49, of the Las Vegas area, was booked on suspicion of carrying a loaded firearm and possession of a large-capacity magazine of the type outlawed in California, according to Riverside County inmate records. Both are misdemeanors.

He was released before midnight, the records indicate. Bianco said further investigation about why he was trying to get to the venue on false pretenses is the purview of federal law enforcement.

A Secret Service official said in a statement: “We were contacted as it happened and Secret Service agents conducted a productive intelligence interview. It had no impact on the event and we are looking into the circumstances and the backgrounds of the individuals.”

An official familiar with the situation said Trump was not at the venue when the man was stopped.

Asked about the arrest, a Trump campaign official appeared unaware of the incident. When additional information was provided, there was no comment or response.

Trump, running as the Republican nominee for a second presidential term against Vice President Kamala Harris, was the subject of assassination attempts in July and September.

On July 13, a gunman hit Trump in the ear and fatally shot a man at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The gunman was killed. And on Sept. 15 at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, not far from his home, a man suspected of being a would-be gunman was discovered hiding in bushes.

Bianco said the man who was stopped Saturday made it through an outer perimeter after “he gave all indications that he belonged there.” But he expressed confidence that the man did not have much chance of getting beyond the inner perimeter, especially with a story that included having gotten permission to attend from a third party, which he said was not realistic.

“You don’t get to give away passes to a rally for a former president,” said Bianco, who has declared his political support for Trump.

He said the entry process also included getting past metal detectors at a Secret Service pedestrian checkpoint at the entrance.

Bianco said the situation could have been much worse if fast-acting deputies had not stopped the man early in the process to enter the rally.

“I was completely confident that there was absolutely nothing going to happen inside that facility,” he said.

Bianco cited the allegedly fake license plate and what he described as the vehicle’s lack of paperwork, including registration, as indications the man may be affiliated with the anti-government sovereign citizens movement.

Miller was scheduled to appear in court on the weapons violations case in nearby Indio on Jan. 2.

Politico White House reporter Daniel Lippman joins CNN’s Victor Blackwell to discuss why he believes former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric has gotten darker after Trump suggested violence while addressing what appeared to be a heckler during his California rally. 

Former President Donald Trump took the stage at a massive rally Saturday in Coachella in deep-blue California a called the state a “paradise lost” due to Democratic politicians such as Vice President Kamala Harris.

“The radical left democrats have destroyed this state, but we are going to save it. We’re going to make it better than ever before,” Trump said to his supporters, many who braved the 100-degree heat at the outdoor rally.

“We’re not going to let [Harris] destroy our country like she did San Francisco,” Trump said to cheers.

“It’s a paradise lost, but we’re gonna bring it back,” Trump said adding, “Don’t worry about it, we’re gonna bring it back. It’ll happen fast.” 

Then he waxed poetic about the great heights that California once represented.

“Through generations of American history California stood as a beacon of what our country aspired to become,” Trump said. “It had everything. It had the weather. It had the water. The state had the best schools, the safest communities, and a booming middle class.

“But all of it was eradicated by the very policies that Kamala Harris now wants to force upon America,” Trump added.

“Today California has the highest inflation, the highest taxes, the highest gas prices, the highest cost of living, the most regulations, the most expensive utilities, the most homelessness, the most crime, the most decay, and the most illegal aliens,” Trump added, “Other than that I think you’re doing quite well.”

The Republican candidate tagged Harris as a radical and harped on her recent media flub. 

Harris said on The View, on Tuesday, that she said she would not change any of the Biden administration decisions from over the last four years. Trump has been playing a video compilation at his rallies that features that comment from Harris spliced with news clips that enumerate policy failures of the administration – including the rising home prices and the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

“Kamala Harris got you into this mess and only Trump can get you out of it, we’re gonna get you out of it,” the ex-prez said.

Trump also took aim at two of his other favorite targets from California – Governor Gavin Newsom and Congressman Adam Schiff.

The 45th President called Newsom by his pet-nickname “Gavin Newscum” and labeled him the “worst governor in the country.”

Trump also called California Congressman and current senate candidate Schiff “a real low-life” – calling him out for the Russia collusion investigation, which Schiff spearheaded in the congress.

The last time a Republican presidential candidate won California was 1988 – when then Vice President George HW Bush took the mantel from former California governor Ronald Reagan.

Trump campaigned in the Golden State even though its far from a swing state. He got a mere 34% of the California vote in the 2020 presidential election and 31% of the vote in 2016.

“With your vote I will act with urgency and speed to save America and rescue the people of California from Kamala Harris’ atrocious failures,” Trump said in sum.