Police officers in California arrested a man with weapons near a rally being held by Donald Trump, it has emerged.
The 49-year-old man was found in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun and high-capacity magazine on Saturday afternoon local time.
Officers stopped him at a checkpoint near the rally in Coachella in a black SUV before Donald Trump arrived.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told a press conference on Sunday his deputies probably “stopped the third assassination attempt”.
However, a federal law enforcement official said there is no indication at this time there was an assassination attempt on Mr Trump on Saturday, NBC reported.
The Secret Service and the FBI are investigating.
VIPs and the media were being sent through police checkpoints where drivers were asked to open the boots and car bonnets of their vehicles, which were then searched by an officer with a dog.
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Sheriff Bianco said his deputies became suspicious when the man approached the perimeter.
“There were many irregularities that popped up,” said Sheriff Bianco.
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His officers “noticed the interior of the vehicle was in disarray and had an obviously fake licence plate”.
The man was found with multiple passports and driving licences with different names, his vehicle was unregistered and his licence plate was homemade, according to Sheriff Bianco.
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The Secret Service 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.”
The man was released from custody on the same day with a $5,000 (£3,800) bail. He is scheduled to appear in court on 2 January next year, according to online records.
He was charged with possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine, according to the sheriff’s office.
During the press conference, Sheriff Bianco was asked if he was being dramatic when he suggested his officers had stopped an assassination attempt.
“If we are that politically lost that we have lost sight of common sense and reality and reason, that we can’t say ‘Holy crap, what did he show up with all that stuff for and loaded guns?’, and I’m going to be accused of being dramatic, we have a serious problem in this country because this is common sense and reason,” he said.
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Mr Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrest.
The Republican presidential candidate was shot in an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania in July, when a bullet grazed his ear.
Last month, another man was charged with trying to assassinate the former president after Secret Service agents found him hiding with a rifle near Mr Trump’s golf course in Palm Beach. He pleaded not guilty.
Democrats have shared more pictures from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, a day before the government’s deadline for the full release.
The 68 photos published on Thursday are among more than 95,000 images that the House Oversight Committee Democrats said they were reviewing.
They said the images were “selected to provide the public with transparency into a representative sample of the photos” and to “provide insights into Epstein’s network and his extremely disturbing activities”.
Image: Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: @OversightDems
But the Democrats added that they are still analysing thousands more images that are “both graphic and mundane”.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of those pictured in the images – and the context surrounding the photos is not known.
Mystery text quotes price for ‘girl’
The latest cache includes a text message appearing to discuss the price for a girl.
It isn’t clear who sent the messages and to whom, but the screenshot shows some details on an unidentified girl, described as a teenager here.
“I will send u girls now,” one of the texts read.
Image: Pic: @OversightDems
Writing on body
Several pictures show handwritten messages on a person’s body.
One appears to be quoting the opening paragraph of the book Lolita – which can be seen in the background of the picture.
The book was written by Vladimir Nabokov and tells the story of a girl groomed by a middle-aged literature professor.
Another shows writing on a foot, which reads: “She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock.”
Image: The writing appears to be quoting the opening paragraph of the book Lolita. Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Another handwritten message. Pic: @OversightDems
Other messages can be seen on the neck, hip, back and chest, with the latter reading: “The tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down”.
In a different image, Epstein is pictured with three girls in his house in New York. One appears to be touching Epstein’s chest, one is holding her wrist up and another is looking at a laptop.
The identity of the women has been hidden.
Image: Epstein with three women whose faces have been redacted. Pic: @OversightDems
Epstein with high-profile figures
Some high-profile figures also appear in the newly released images, with one showing Epstein sitting alongside Sheikh Jabor Bin Yousef Bin Jassim Bin Jabor al Thani.
He is the chairman and director of several privately established companies and is a member of the Qatari royal family.
Image: Epstein with Sheikh Jabor Bin Yousef Bin Jassim Bin Jabor al Thani. Pic: @OversightDems
Another image shows Epstein with the former president of the UN General Assembly, Miroslav Lajcak, who held the role between 2017 and 2018. He is also a former Slovakian foreign affairs minister.
Last month, he told TASR news agency: “The reopening of the Epstein case occurred after I left New York, and the full extent of his inexcusable actions, which I strongly condemn, only came to light after his arrest.”
Image: Miroslav Lajcak, former president of the UN General Assembly, next to Epstein. Pic: @OversightDems
Shaher Abdulhak, a deceased Yemeni billionaire businessman whose son is a suspect in the murder of a Norwegian woman in Mayfair, was also pictured with Epstein.
His son, Farouk Abdulhak, fled to Yemen after the rape and death of Martine Vik Magnussen in March 2008 and has been wanted for questioning ever since.
Ms Magnussen was found dead among rubble in a basement in Great Portland Street.
She and her friends had been celebrating finishing their end-of-term exams at the Maddox nightclub before she vanished. Her body was found two days later.
Image: Deceased Yemeni billionaire Shaher Abdulhak with Epstein. Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Epstein and Steve Bannon. Pic: @OversightDems
Also featured in the newly released images were former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, magician David Blaine, businessman Tom Pritzker, billionaire Bill Gates, director Woody Allen, talk show host Dick Cavett, Trump ally Steve Bannon, and Kuwait’s former information minister Anas al Rasheed.
Photos of identity documents with redacted names were also published, including one with text saying that “the bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor”, which could belong to convicted sex offender Epstein.
Also among the identification documents is a heavily redacted Russian passport. It belongs to a female, but other information has been blocked out.
The release also includes ID documents from the Czech Republic, South Africa, Ukraine, and Lithuania.
Image: One passport appeared to belong to someone ‘convicted of a sex offense against a minor’. Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Epstein’s passport. Pic: @OversightDems
Deadline looming
The picture drop came a day before the deadline set by a bipartisan bill that compels the US Justice Department to release the Epstein files within 30 days, which was signed into law by US President Donald Trump last month.
Mr Trump had promised to release the Epstein files during his ultimately successful presidential campaign, but he later made a U-turn, even going as far as calling the Epstein files a Democratic “hoax”, before eventually changing path again to sign the bill.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said ahead of the deadline that he believes the Department of Justice will release the files in time, and warned that there will be “strong bipartisan pushback” if they don’t.
“Based on my conversations with some of the top Democrats who’ve been working on this matter, related to full and complete disclosure of the Epstein files, we do expect compliance,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Full release going ‘down to the wire’
National security lawyers inside the Department of Justice are “working down to the wire” as Friday’s deadline for the full release of the Epstein files edges closer, according to Sky News’ US correspondent James Matthews.
Lawyers are working ‘down to the wire’ to finalise Epstein files
He said those lawyers are mulling “how much is actually divulged in these documents”.
“There will be redactions… the question is, how far short of everything? How far short of the full story will the release fall?” Matthews said.
“The issue at the heart of it… where does Donald Trump feature? Remember, he emphatically denies all knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities and any involvement in them.”
Meanwhile, frustration is building at the justice department ahead of the release, according to CNN.
A source has told the US broadcaster that there could be up to 1,000 redactions needed from each attorney.
Lawyers reportedly believe they aren’t getting clear or comprehensive direction on how to make the most information available under the law.
A previous batch of images featured more high-profile figures, including Donald Trump, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Bill Clinton, British entrepreneur Richard Branson, Emirati businessman Ahmed bin Sulayem, and singer Jimmy Buffett.
Several images of a sexual nature have also been released, including a picture of a bowl of novelty condoms with a caricature of Mr Trump’s face, and various sex toys.
TikTok’s Chinese owner has signed a deal to sell the company’s US arm to American investors – ensuring the video platform can continue operating in the United States.
The deal is expected to close on 22 January 2026, according to an internal memo seen by Sky News’ US partner, NBC News.
It will end years of uncertainty over the app’s future in the States, after Joe Biden signed a law last year that required TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell up – or else it would be blocked.
The law was introduced amid concerns from some US politicians that ByteDance might share user data with the Chinese government, despite repeated assurances from the firm that it would not.
Critics also expressed fears that Chinese authorities may be able to manipulate TikTok’s algorithms and shape what content users see and are influenced by. This claim was also denied.
The internal memo sent to employees on Thursday said the deal allows “over 170 million Americans to continue discovering a world of endless possibilities as part of a vital global community.”
TikTok owner ByteDance will sell just over 80% of the company’s US assets to three major investors, Reuters news agency reports.
The investors – Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX – will form a new venture, named TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.
The venture will be 50% held by the consortium of US investors, Reuters added, with affiliates of certain existing ByteDance investors holding 30.1% and ByteDance itself retaining 19.9%.
It will have a new, seven-member majority-American board of directors and be subject to terms that “protect Americans’ data and US national security”, the memo said.
The suspect in the deadly shooting at Brown University in the US has been found dead.
Two students were killed and at least eight were injured during the shooting inside a classroom building at the Ivy League university in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday.
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday night in Providence, police said the suspect had been found dead. He is a 48-year-old Portuguese man.
Sources told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News that the suspect had been found dead in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, seemingly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“He may have been dead for a bit of time,” said one senior official.
Rhode Island’s attorney general Peter Neronha said: “He was found dead, with a satchel, with two firearms and evidence in the car that matches exactly what we see at the scene here in Providence.”
It comes as police are investigating a possible link to the murder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Nuno Loureiro, 47, two days later in Boston, according to a Reuters source familiar with the matter.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.