What to know about the alleged failed White House UFC terror plot

Federal authorities say they stopped a potential attack on Sunday’s “UFC Freedom 250” event held on the White House lawn on President Trump’s birthday, identifying a wide network of individuals involved.

FBI Director Kash Patel wrote Tuesday on social media that his bureau, along with law enforcement partners in multiple states, collaborated to halt the alleged plot before it began. Multiple individuals are now in custody.

Here is what to know.

Multiple agencies collaborate to halt alleged plot

Patel said the FBI and its law enforcement partners “became aware of a potential threat” to the UFC event on June 10. The FBI director noted those involved in planning the attack were outside of the Washington, D.C., region.

Trump, members of his family, administration officials, members of Congress and business leaders were all among the more than 4,000 attendees at the event, which took place on the South Lawn.

Patel added that the FBI, its partners and the Department of Justice (DOJ) thwarted the alleged plot via a “multi-state” operation.

“While the result represented the best of investigative work, it was also nothing out of the ordinary for this law enforcement team — we are built to detect, respond to, and bring to justice those who threaten the lives of American citizens — particularly during large gatherings like the historic UFC 250 fight,” Patel added.

Secret Service Director Sean Curran said Tuesday morning his agency “worked closely” with the FBI throughout the investigation.

“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,” he said in a written statement.

Matthew Quinn, Curran’s deputy, told reporters Tuesday the event “was never at risk” thanks to the work of law enforcement.

Quinn also said the Secret Service “led” the probe into the alleged plot “from the beginning” and chose not to leak details of the investigation to maintain its integrity.

“I’ll tell you a phrase I learned early in my career in the New York field office: ‘Don’t choke on your own smoke.’ Anyone that believes that case was worked in a bubble is naive,” Quinn added.

Five individuals documented in custody; authorities say nearly 20 involved

Federal authorities said they found 19 people involved in the alleged plot, with five individuals documented as being in custody, according to court filings unsealed Tuesday.

One of the suspects in custody, 19-year-old Tycen Proper of Knox County, Ohio, was arrested and charged with attempted murder of a federal official and multiple firearms-related felonies, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in the Southern District of Ohio.

The complaint stated that last Wednesday, Proper’s father told Knox County police officers his son recently purchased ballistic plates, a new shotgun, a rifle, “lots” of ammunition, extra magazines and plate carriers.

In chats on the app SimpleX, Proper allegedly said the attack would focus on Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Jim Justice (W.Va.) and Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), along with GOP Reps. Carol Miller (W.Va.) and Riley Moore (W.Va.).

The complaint alleged that Proper cited Blackburn accepting donations from the “pro Israel lobby” and shared images of the other four lawmakers that appear to have been taken from the website TrackAIPAC.com.

Proper also allegedly admitted to planning a “coordinated attack” against the U.S. government at the UFC event during an interview with investigators last Thursday.

The DOJ, in other complaints, said that Michael Alan Thomas and Bryan Omar Roa of California, Daniel Eskridge of Missouri and Abraham Hermosille Alvarez of Nebraska were involved in planning the attack.

In a complaint filed in the Western District of Missouri, FBI special agent Andrew Brown wrote that the bureau identified Eskridge as one of Proper’s online co-conspirators.

Eskridge had a prior DUI offense from 2017 in Denton County, Texas, according to court records. He was also charged in 2020 with multiple misdemeanors in Caldwell County, Mo., including burglary by breaking and entering a motor vehicle, destruction of property and trespassing.

Roa and Thomas, meanwhile, engaged in tactical training last week — according to a review of the former’s Instagram account detailed by a complaint filed in the Central District of California.

The complaint also alleged that the two were involved in planning the attack in Signal chats with Proper.

Vance says alleged plot ‘very dark stuff’

On Tuesday morning, Vice President Vance said the plot was “dark” and blamed Democrats for recent instances of politically motivated violence.

“This is very, very dark stuff,” the vice president said on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends.”

“Everybody has a role to cut this stuff out, but I think a lot of my Democratic colleagues in Washington have got to look themselves in the mirror and say, ‘Why is so much of this political violence coming from our side of the spectrum?’ Maybe they can do something different.”

Trump has been the subject of three unsuccessful assassination plots in the last two years. The latest occurred in April, when a man exchanged gunfire with law enforcement officers at the hotel where the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was taking place, with the president in attendance.

The suspect in the case, Cole Allen, allegedly wrote he was targeting Trump administration officials from highest-ranking to lowest-ranking.

A study conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that every year from 1994 through 2024, more right-wing attacks than left-wing attacks occurred in the U.S.

Through July 4 of last year, though, there were more left-wing attacks than right-wing attacks in the country, according to the study.

Sunday also marked the one-year anniversary of a man fatally shooting Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman (D), her husband, Mark, and their golden retriever at the family’s home in Brooklyn Park, Minn.