Kash Patel says FBI thwarted attack targeting Trump’s UFC event at White House

2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 16, 2026 07:14 PM IST

President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, UFC President and CEO Dana White and other guests pose inside the octagon after UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP)

The FBI on Tuesday said it foiled a possible threat to an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event at the White House, Director Kash Patel said, adding that the agency has taken multiple people into custody.

In a post on X, Patel wrote: “On June 10, FBI and our law enforcement partners became aware of a potential threat to the UFC America 250 event in Washington, D.C. involving individuals outside of the National Capital Region – and thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold.”

While sharing a Fox News story on X, Patel said that a group allegedly planned to use drones with explosives to hit a building and target the crowd gathered to watch the UFC event.

The Fox News report stated the perpetrators had then planned to attack the White House gate, however, there’s been no official confirmation on it.

US President Donald Trump, who is in Evian, France for the G7 Summit, said he has not heard about the foiled attack, Reuters reported.

Speaking to Fox News, Vice President JD Vance said authorities were investigating the underground networks that could be driving such kind of violence.

“Twenty-three people ​do ​not get to the point where they’re going to commit a mass terror ​incident in Washington, D.C. without some ⁠serious funding, without some serious coordination,” Vance said.

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According to Secret Service Director Sean Curran, the agency “worked closely” with the FBI through out the probe. “In the days leading up to this weekend, our special agents, mission support personnel, and technical security teams worked around the clock to identify those responsible and hold them accountable,” Curran wrote in a statement on X.

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