Las Vegas Trump Supporter Denies Wrongdoing at California Rally for Former President

The Las Vegas man who was apprehended over the weekend at a pro-Donald Trump rally in Coachella, California is proclaiming his innocence this week despite weapons charges.

Donald Trump
Former President Donald Trump, pictured above. A Las Vegas man was cited on weapons charges at the rally for Trump. (Image: X.com)

Vem Miller, 49, who runs a “Veterans in Politics” podcast, was arrested on  Saturday after deputies located firearms and ammo in a car he was driving. He faces two misdemeanors and initially was suspected of an assassination attempt.

As far as what took place this weekend, the allegations made by the sheriff and the deputy are false,” Miller told Las Vegas TV station KTNV. “The only thing that happened is what I do when I go to all these rallies, which is to … let police know I’m carrying, lawfully, firearms in my trunk.”

He didn’t realize gun laws in California’s Riverside County are different from those in Nevada.

Officers charged him after the magazine of his gun was in the chamber and a barrel was improperly on his gun, Miller told KTNV.

He carries the weapons because people have made death threats against him, Miller revealed.

He’s also expecting to bring a case to court in an effort to clear his name.

Miller Loves Trump

Also, Steve Sanson, a Las Vegas resident who serves as president of Veterans In Politics International, further told KTNV that, “Miller loves President Trump.”

He has canvassed for him. He is one of the canvas captains. He was invited by the Trump team to come to California,” Sanson added.

“In California, you have to separate the magazine from the weapon to be in the vehicle legally. In Nevada, the magazine can be in the weapon. That was the only thing he did wrong.”

The car Miller was driving is owned by his parents, according to Sanson. He may not have realized it was unregistered. Miller had multiple IDs in the car because he changed his name when he ran for political office, Sanson added.

Sheriff Defends Deputies

But Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said his deputies actually may have halted an attempted assassination against Trump by apprehending Miller.

A sheriff’s deputy “found multiple passports with multiple names, multiple driver’s licenses with different names, the vehicle was unregistered, and the license plate was what we in law enforcement would recognize as one that is homemade and indicative of a group of individuals that claim to be sovereign citizens,” Bianco said in a statement.

There is absolutely no way that any of us are going to truly know what was in his head,” Bianco added. “I can tell you that none of the other probably 50,000 people that showed up for that event brought multiple passports with different names and guns. I am glad that we’re not talking about this after we shot him.”

In recent weeks, there have been two assassination attempts on Trump’s life. In one of them Trump suffered a wounded ear.

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Kamala Harris’ Odds Improve After 2024 Debate Against Donald Trump

By most accounts, Vice President Kamala Harris was deemed the winner of Tuesday night’s presidential debate against former President Donald Trump. Her strong performance wasn’t a total surprise, as she was the betting favorite on the political wagering exchange Polymarket to be considered the winner before the Tuesday showdown.

Kamala Harris Donald Trump 2024 odds
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris squared off for their first, and possibly last, presidential debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. The 2024 odds have moved in Harris’ favor following the more than 90-minute spectacle. (Image: Getty)

Polymarket, a decentralized wagering exchange that facilitates the buying and selling of shares of political outcomes, had Trump as the 2024 favorite before the debate. His stock was trading around 52 cents to Harris at 46 cents. Things have since changed.

Harris was poised on Tuesday night at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and spoke directly to the people. She baited her opponent into discussing the past, as the billionaire became visibly upset at times trying to defend his record and expose her and President Joe Biden’s.

Though Trump said Tuesday was his “best debate ever,” even Republican stalwarts said he had a bad night. He seemed unprepared at times, reverted to old talking points that have been proven not to resonate with independents or Republicans who aren’t so-called “MAGA Republicans,” and was perhaps overconfident in taking on his new Democratic rival.

Whatever prep the former casino billionaire did was a bust in the eyes of political bettors, who quickly moved their election positions to Harris.

Harris, Trump Neck and Neck

Trump has largely been the 2024 betting front-runner since his June debate with Biden, which led to the president announcing he wouldn’t seek a second term. Harris was the party’s hand-picked replacement, and so far, it’s a bet that’s paying off.

As Trump doubled down on his belief that the 2020 election was rigged and he was the rightful winner, the 2024 Polymarket contest moved in Harris’ favor. Another political wagering exchange, Betfair, reported a similar movement.

As of noon on September 11, Polymarket has Trump’s shares at 50 cents to Harris’ at 49 cents. Betfair’s 2024 odds imply a winning chance of 51.2% for Harris and even money, or 50%, for Trump.

UK sportsbooks, where political betting is allowed, also shortened Harris’ line while lengthening Trump’s. William Hill now has Harris at 4/5 (-125), or implied odds of 55.56%. Trump is at 10/11 (-110), or an implied chance of 52.38%.

Before the debate, Trump was favored at -125 and Harris was the underdog at +110.

Do Debates Matter?

While most everyone in the US is very familiar with Trump, Tuesday’s debate gave Harris her first major chance to resonate with the American people after avoiding most media interview requests and shying away from the limelight over the past three and a half years as second in command to the commander-in-chief.

Harris remained light on policy specifics, opting instead for a softer approach and trying to appeal to voters’ emotions. Trump was brash, with his supporters claiming it was a three-on-one debate, as ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis repeatedly fact-checked him while letting Harris’ talking points go unchecked.

Odds, and presumably next week’s polls, will show a shift in Harris’ favor, but voters will have the final say on November 5.

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Trump, Harris Tax-Free Tips Pledge Unlikely, Law and Economics Professor Says

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris each pledged while stumping in Las Vegas to eliminate taxes on service workers’ tips.

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Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump both want taxes on tips removed for service workers. A leading law and economics professor says such a change would have significant consequences and wouldn’t be easy to implement. (Image: AP)

The tax-free tip commitments resonated in Nevada, the state home to the highest concentration of tipped workers in the country. But a prominent law and economics professor is casting doubt on either president’s ability to champion such a tax code change, a power that ultimately rests with Congress.

Speaking recently with the Associated Press, James Hines Jr., a law and economics professor at the University of Michigan and the research director of the Ross School of Business Office of Tax Policy Research, says amending how service workers are taxed would be complicated for the IRS and cost the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars.

“There’s no way that it wouldn’t be a mess,” said Hines Jr.

Michigan’s law and economics schools are consistently ranked among the nation’s 15 best by U.S. News & World Report. 

Tip of the Iceberg

Hines believes such a change would result in many workers attempting to reclassify their income as tipped wages.

For example, a contractor might take a $2,000 service bill and amend it to a $1,000 job with a $1,000 mandatory gratuity. Employers might also reclassify annual bonuses as tips to lessen their payroll taxes and allow workers to keep more of their pay.

You will have taxpayers pushing their attorneys to try to characterize their wage and salary income as tips,” Hines said. “And some would be successful, inevitably, because it’s impossible to write foolproof rules that will cover every situation.”

Fiscal estimates project that removing the IRS’ tip tax could cost the federal government as much as $25 billion a year. Hines thinks the change would end up benefiting the wealthy and high-income earners, not the low-income taxpayers Harris and Trump are seeking to help.

“If the issue is you’re concerned about low-income taxpayers, there are a lot better ways to address that problem,” Hines said, suggesting better avenues to be increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit or lowering tax rates.

This is good politics but bad policy,” added Erica York, a senior economist and research director at the Tax Foundation, a think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.

There are about four million workers in the U.S. who work in a tipped occupation, or about 2.5% of the country’s labor force.

Union Embraces Harris Pledge

While both the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates agreed that tipped workers shouldn’t have to pay taxes on gratuities, the leading casino union in Las Vegas is only supporting Harris for Nov. 5. Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge expressed differing opinions on the candidates’ tip tax guarantees.

When Trump first pledged to remove taxes on tips in June, Pappageorge said, “Relief is definitely needed for tip earners, but Nevada workers are smart enough to know the difference between real solutions and wild campaign promised from a convicted felon.”

But after Harris this month made a similar pledge, Pappageorge responded that the vice president “acknowledged the hard-working men and women of the hospitality industry.”

On the political betting exchange Polymarket, Harris and Trump are in a dead heat at the time of this writing.

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Las Vegas Sands Billionaire Dr. Miriam Adelson to Spend ‘Whatever It Takes’ for Trump Victory

Dr. Miriam Adelson, the largest shareholder of Las Vegas Sands with a 46% stake in the Macau casino empire, has pledged to spend “whatever it takes” to reelect her friend Donald Trump.

Miriam Adelson Donald Trump campaign
Dr. Miriam Adelson and former President Donald Trump embrace during a campaign rally at his Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. Adelson, the Las Vegas Sands owner, is ready to spend over $100 million to fund Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. (Image: AP)

Adelson and her late husband, Sands founder Sheldon Adelson, have been Trump’s biggest supporters since the former casino tycoon announced his 2016 presidential run. The Adelson family poured more than $200 million into Trump’s 2016 run and unsuccessful 2020 reelection bid.

Adelson pledged this week to open up her deep pockets, estimated by Forbes to be north of $28 billion, to bankroll Trump for a third consecutive presidential election cycle. At a campaign event at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., Adelson reportedly hinted that she has a blank check policy for the former president and will give his campaign whatever it needs to get him back in the White House.

Political odds currently have Trump as a slight underdog. Vice President Kamala Harris’ odds on political wagering exchange Polymarket give her an implied chance of 51% to Trump at 47%.

Overseas bookmakers have Harris at -125, or implied odds of 55.6%. Trump is even money (+100 — 50%).

Las Vegas Sands no longer has domestic casino holdings after selling The Venetian and Palazzo resorts on the Las Vegas Strip in early 2022 for $6.25 billion. The company has several casino resorts in China’s Macau and is lobbying heavily in Texas for the Lone Star State to welcome casino resorts.

Adelson and her son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, Sands’ president and chief operating officer, acquired a controlling stake in the NBA Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban last year. Adelson’s fortune tumbled over the last 12 months, as Sands’ stock price crashed almost 25%.

Adelson Super PAC

Adelson will once again primarily fund Trump through her super political action committee (PAC) Preserve America. She gave the PAC $5 million in May to get its Trump campaign up and running, but the committee’s treasure chest will see considerably more money from the Sands owner in the coming weeks.

According to Andy Abboud, the Adelsons’ longtime political aide, family advisor, and spokesperson, Preserve America will spend upwards of $100 million to make sure Harris doesn’t become the 47th president.

We’re going to do whatever it takes for him to win,” Abboud confirmed in an interview with CNBC on Friday. “In her mind, and in the minds of those who run [Preserve America], we are going to do whatever it takes for him to win.”

In addition to her Preserve American, Adelson in May wrote a check for $844,600 to the Trump 47 Committee. She’s also given 38 committees and PACs $10,000 each that are working to put GOP governors and congresspeople into office this November. 

Israel in Focus

Adelson says Jewish voters should vote for Trump, a strong ally of the Israeli state who relocated the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem while president. The embassy’s relocation was of utmost importance to the Adelsons, who attended the embassy’s opening on May 14, 2018, sitting in the front row.

President Trump deserves the full support of the entire Jewish people,” Adelson, who received the Medal of Freedom from Trump in 2018 for her philanthropic work in medical research, Holocaust memorialization, and strengthening the American Jewish community. “Anyone who cares about Israel’s security and prosperity, this must be our pledge to him — this must be our promise to him — that the White House will be his again come January.”

Harris reportedly strongly considered Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) to be her running mate but was rumored to have been concerned that his Jewish heritage could turn off the Democrats’ Palestinian support.

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Donald Trump Jr. Shines Light on Alabama Gaming Expansion Deadlock

Donald Trump Jr. is headed to Alabama next week to rally on behalf of his father’s 2024 campaign. Before departing for the Cotton State, the former president’s eldest son took to X to weigh in on efforts to allow Alabamans to have a say on whether to expand gambling.

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Donald Trump Jr. thinks lawmakers in Alabama should step aside to allow voters to decide the outcome of ongoing considerations to expand gambling. The legislature is deadlocked about what forms of gambling should be presented to voters through a ballot referendum. (Image: Bloomberg)

The Alabama Senate and House of Delegates had significantly different opinions on how the state should go about authorizing new forms of gambling during the legislative session this year.

The House proposed up to six commercial casinos and four tribal casinos with slot machines, table games, and sports betting. The House bill also recommended the creation of a state-run lottery.

The Senate overhauled the statute to include only three tribal casinos with slots and table games and seven racinos where slot-like historical horse racing (HHR) machines would operate at the state’s former pari-mutuel greyhound tracks and new facilities. While a lottery remained in the Senate version, sports betting became excluded.  

A conference committee last week recommended that a compromise be passed.

The proposal from the six-member panel endorsed three tribal casinos with slots and table games. Up to seven racinos would be allowed only electronic gaming machines but not live dealer tables. Sports betting would remain on the sidelines for both the racinos and tribal casinos. A lottery creation remained.

DJT Jr. Comments

The House of Delegates subsequently ratified the conference committee’s recommendations but the Senate fell a vote shy of the three-fifths majority needed to initiate the referendum. The Alabama Constitution currently prohibits such gambling, meaning voters must amend the state’s fundamental principles to allow the Legislature to legalize new forms of gambling.

Trump Jr. thinks it’s time state lawmakers in Montgomery step aside to allow voters to have the final say on the gaming discussions.

I’m excited to be in Alabama next week for a fundraiser for my dad, but whenever I ask anyone from there what’s going on in the state, this is all they talk about,” Trump Jr. said about the ongoing gaming and lottery talks. “Why is their Senate refusing to let the people vote on a clean bill to legalize the lottery and fund education when 45 states already do it?”

Trump Jr. asked why Alabama lawmakers wouldn’t rather keep the “billions of $$$ in Alabama instead of sending it to other states? Makes no sense to me!”

Gov. Kay Ivey (R) agrees. She recently voiced her opinion that “it’s time for voters of Alabama to have their say.”

Surprising Holdout 

State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore) has long advocated for legal casino gambling and a lottery. He served on the gaming conference committee but was among the 15 “no” votes in the Senate that stalled the gaming package by a single vote in the upper chamber.

Albritton’s district includes Wind Creek Atmore, one of three Class II tribal casinos run by the Poach Band of Creek Indians. Albritton said he was overruled in seeking to provide the tribe with an opportunity to build a casino off sovereign land in Northeast Alabama to draw in players from Georgia and Tennessee where casinos remain absent.

Albritton said the exclusion of a commercial casino for the state’s lone federally recognized tribe prompted his “no” vote.

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