Authorities have thwarted an attack targeting the UFC cage fight spectacle held at the White House over the weekend. Court documents revealed a plot by conspirators who were dissatisfied with the direction of the country.
According to the documents, the plan involved using explosive-laden drones and shooting panicked crowd members as they fled. The FBI obtained encrypted text messages between around 20 participants who shared detailed maps of the area. They discussed the need for a ‘safe house’ and escape routes following the attack.
It remains unclear how close the attackers might have come to executing their plan had it not been foiled last week. The FBI learned of the threat on June 10, four days before the mixed martial arts event at the South Lawn of the White House. Thanks to quick action by the FBI, its partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, several individuals are now in custody, and the alleged planned attacks were stopped, said agency director Kash Patel in a post on X.
Five people were arrested in states including Ohio, Missouri, and California. This information comes from a law enforcement official familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss not yet public information.
Among those arrested was Tycen Proper, a 19-year-old from Ohio. His mother had contacted local law enforcement the previous week about his firearm purchases and online communications. Proper faced initial charges related to firearms offenses and attempted murder of a U.S. official or employee at a hearing on Monday in Columbus. A federal public defender representing Proper had yet to respond to multiple inquiries seeking comment.
Proper admitted to his involvement in planning the attack in an interview with law enforcement, as per the affidavit. It indicated that some group members began communicating in March through a TikTok group called ‘Vanguard of the Old.’
Group members claimed to want to protect the U.S., believing it was moving in the wrong direction. They argued that America needed to be dismantled and rebuilt. Some expressed a desire that people connected with Jeffrey Epstein should not govern the country.
Authorities stated that logistics of the attack were discussed via Signal. This app offers end-to-end encryption for messaging and calls, involving a main chat of approximately 19 individuals and smaller secondary chats. Messages obtained from Proper’s phone indicated he discussed the plot with others and highlighted several legislators who, in his view, should be targeted due to their support for Israel.
Proper informed law enforcement officials that he planned to drive with weapons and body armor to a meeting point in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where the group was set to gather. Although he claimed not to intend to shoot people at the White House, he stated other group members did.
The plan included using drones that would be detonated over the north side of the White House, causing a hurried evacuation into the sniper’s line of fire. This attack, according to Proper, aimed to ‘spark’ a revolution in America, according to authorities.
President Donald Trump, who celebrated his 80th birthday at the UFC event on Sunday, had previously been a friend of Epstein many years ago. However, he claimed to have ended the relationship before Epstein’s crimes became public.
When speaking with reporters on Tuesday in Évian-les-Bains, France, where he attended the Group of Seven summit, the Republican president said he was not informed about the thwarted plot.
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Darlene Superville in Évian-les-Bains, France, and Michael Kunzelman in Washington contributed to this report.