FBI thwarted attack targeting White House UFC show, director says

Authorities intercepted a plot to attack the Ultimate Fighting Championship event held outside the White House over the weekend, according to court papers made public Tuesday that described plans to fly drones loaded with explosives over the crowd, set them off, and gun down fleeing attendees.

FBI Director Kash Patel posted on social media Tuesday morning that “multiple individuals” had been taken into custody. Following “a multi-state operation,” he wrote, the “allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold.”

It was not immediately clear how close the alleged plot came to reality or how many people authorities believe may have been involved.

Matthew C. Quinn, deputy director of the Secret Service, told reporters Tuesday morning that the event “was never at risk due to the great investigative work.”

But he cautioned that some people allegedly involved were still at large. And after Patel’s social media post revealed the alleged plot, Quinn pointedly noted that the Secret Service had chosen not to “leak” news of the investigation.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Ohio on Monday and unsealed Tuesday depicted plans to carry out “a coordinated attack against the United States government” during the UFC event.

The complaint alleges that Tycen Proper, 19, admitted to plotting the attack with people who began communicating via TikTok, a social media app, before shifting to Signal, an encrypted messaging app.

Proper has been arrested and is in custody, with a detention hearing set for Wednesday. An assistant public defender appointed to represent him did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.

According to an affidavit submitted with the complaint, Proper’s mother contacted law enforcement because she was alarmed by his recent actions, including buying guns “and communicating with certain individuals online.”

The affidavit was signed by Christopher S. Betts, who wrote that he is a Columbus, Ohio, police detective assigned to an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Betts wrote that police went to the home where Proper lives with his parents on Wednesday, four days before the UFC event. Proper’s father told them that his son had recently gotten new firearms and ammunition and was planning to meet up with the people he met online during the upcoming weekend, Betts wrote.

The local sheriff’s office took Proper to a local hospital and sought an “emergency admission based on homicidal ideations,” Betts continued. The sheriff’s office also called the FBI.

Betts said that he spoke with Proper’s mother the next day and that she said her son had been interacting with people online “who claimed to be ex-military and Christian-based.” Proper’s mother said the group had anti-government beliefs, Betts continued, and had expressed grievances dealing with the handling of files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and data centers.

She also described seeing her son mapping an area outside D.C., Betts added. And he wrote that family members told investigators Proper had made “concerning statements” in recent months, including antisemitic rhetoric and sympathetic remarks about Adolf Hitler.

Investigators spoke to Proper on Thursday, and he admitted to planning to attack people at the UFC event, Betts said. He wrote that Proper described plans for members of the plot to meet in Fredericksburg, Va., south of D.C., and then “stage a demonstration” near the White House.

According to Betts, Proper said he was not going to the event to shoot people but reported that some other members of the group were intending to carry out violence.

Proper described plans to sent drones “laden with unspecified explosive devices” over the north side of the UFC arena, Betts wrote. Then the group planned to shoot attendees fleeing the explosions, including “wealthy people and politicians,” Betts said. He wrote that Proper said the attack was meant to start a revolution.

When investigators searched Proper’s phone, Betts said, they found chats on Signal “consistent with much of what” he had described. The phone showed a large chat with about 19 people and smaller groups with four to five people, Betts added. In another app, Betts wrote, Proper discussed targeting a U.S. senator because of her support for Israel.

News of the alleged plot spread widely Tuesday morning when Patel posted about it on social media.

“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,” Patel wrote in his post.

The White House declined to comment further Tuesday, and the FBI referred questions to Patel’s social media post. The Justice Department and UFC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the alleged plot.

When asked Tuesday whether he had been briefed about the alleged planned attack, President Donald Trump said he had not heard about it.

“The attack that I watched were the fighters,” Trump told reporters at the Group of Seven summit in France.

Speaking with reporters Tuesday, Quinn, the Secret Service’s deputy director, described the alleged plot as “unique” because of the number of people and the level of planning involved.

He said the Secret Service had led the investigation from the start.

“In order to maintain the integrity of the investigation and the security plan, we chose not to leak it,” he added.

Pressed on whether he was suggesting Patel or the FBI had jumped the gun by divulging details of the investigation, Quinn said he was “not going to comment on who or what.”

“I’m going to tell you that we, the Secret Service, made a conscious decision to maintain the integrity of the security plan and the ongoing investigation,” he said.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday about Quinn’s remarks.

Patel has been criticized in the past for posting prematurely on social media about ongoing investigations, including when he announced last year that someone was in custody after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed. The person was soon released.

The UFC event held at the White House on Sunday was an unprecedented spectacle designed to mark America’s 250th anniversary and Trump’s 80th birthday. It was run by UFC CEO Dana White, a close Trump friend, and the president and the first lady sat in the front row to watch the fights.

Joe Rogan, a podcaster who provided color commentary at the UFC event Sunday, had called the decision to hold the event outside “odd” and the event a “security nightmare” and “kind of a gimmick.”

“I just don’t think that you should compete in a world championship fight in a noncontrolled environment,” Rogan said on his podcast last week. “I think it should be inside an air-conditioned arena. … You wouldn’t ask them to play a world championship basketball game outside in the sun.”

The event included two flyovers and a fireworks finale near the National Mall well after midnight. The Federal Aviation Administration implemented a ground stop at the region’s three airports during the fireworks Sunday “to ensure safety.”