Eight men now face federal charges over an alleged plan to turn the White House UFC event into a massacre. Prosecutors say the group wanted drones, explosives, rifles, body armor, medical gear, encrypted chats, and escape routes.
The target list included President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk, and other officials gathered for UFC Freedom 250 on June 14. From the Associated Press:
The indictment, returned in Ohio, charges all eight in two separate conspiracies, one to provide material support to terrorists and a second to commit murder on federal government territory and to murder a federal government official.
It remains unclear from the court records how close the would-be attackers could have come to being able to carry out the plan had it not been thwarted.
According to the new indictment, the plot began in May, when the group began amassing money, firearms, ammunition, body armor, explosives, drones, medical equipment, communications equipment and other items.
It was on June 10 that law enforcement officials learned about a possible threat to President Donald Trump’s UFC cage-fighting show, four days before the mixed martial arts extravaganza was scheduled to take place.
The Justice Department last month announced a series of criminal complaints in different districts across the country in connection with the UFC plot, including from Ohio, Missouri, Washington, Nebraska and California.
The alleged plan wasn't a heat-of-the-moment social media rant. The indictment says the defendants organized online beginning in May, gathered weapons and supplies, trained for combat, assigned roles, and discussed using explosive-laden drones to force an evacuation. Snipers would then fire at “high-value targets” as the crowd fled.
The details are hard to read without feeling sick.
Prosecutors say the group used Signal, SimpleX, Discord, TikTok, and Instagram to recruit, plan, and encourage attacks.
The case began with Tycen Proper and now includes Abraham Alvarez, Daniel Eskridge, William Falkner, Jordan Rincker, Bryan Roa, Chandler Scaggs, and Michael Thomas. From the DOJ:
The indictment charges all eight men in two conspiracies: conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and conspiracy to commit murder on federal government territory and to murder a federal government official. The indictment replaces the initial charges filed in criminal complaints in various Districts across the country.
According to the indictment, starting in May 2026, the defendants conspired to provide material support and resources to terrorists in the form of money, firearms, ammunition, body armor, explosives, drones, medical equipment, communication equipment, personnel and other services.
The eight men allegedly participated in online chat groups and forums on Signal, SimpleX, Discord, TikTok and Instagram. Throughout these communications, they allegedly developed plans for attacks, recruited members and encouraged each other to prepare for attacks, including the attack on UFC Freedom 250.
The indictment details that, as part of their conspiracy, the defendants created a tier system to classify participants. Tier one conspirators allegedly committed to put themselves “in harms [sic] way, break the law, and potentially go into hiding.”
The hatred behind the alleged plot looks larger than a single event. Federal authorities say group members harbored fringe conspiracy theories and hoped the attack would destabilize the government.
Earlier filings described discussions about assassinating lawmakers, prominent business executives, and targets tied to their belief that certain officials accepted money from pro-Israel lobbies. Power grids also came up as possible targets.
There's the rot; some Americans have been taught to treat the country as illegitimate, its leaders as villains, its allies as conspirators, and its institutions as targets. Most angry people never become violent, while most loudmouths never leave the couch.
Still, when rage becomes identity, the next step can be a flight path, a rifle, and a plan to murder strangers running for their lives.
President Trump's enemies will be careful here, but only because the facts force caution. If the target had been a Democrat, the speeches would already be written; cable panels would be asking what poisoned the culture, and committees would be demanding investigations into every forum, phrase, and political influence that touched the suspects.
The standard shouldn't depend on who was in the crosshairs.
FBI Director Kash Patel said law enforcement learned of a possible threat on June 10, four days before the event. Agents and partner agencies moved across several states and stopped the alleged attack before the crowd ever knew what might have been coming. Quiet competence doesn't draw the same attention as catastrophe, but it saved lives.
The case should be prosecuted cleanly, publicly, and without political varnish. If prosecutors prove the charge, the punishment should match the ambition of the alleged plot. Drone warfare and assassination fantasies don't become less dangerous because the planners talk like broken internet radicals.
America has always had angry men. The new danger is how fast alienation can organize, train, fund, and aim itself at a public event. The White House UFC plot, if proven, wasn't just hatred in a basement; it was hatred with a flight plan.
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