New details from the investigation into a foiled attack at a White House UFC event suggest the suspects were planning a broader assault on prominent U.S. figures, including President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk, and may also have had Benjamin Netanyahu in their sights. According to the indictment, one suspect used coded language in encrypted chats to refer to targets that investigators believe included those four names. Another suspect also marked several senators and members of Congress as possible targets.
The FBI said Tuesday that five people were arrested after authorities disrupted an alleged plan to attack the Sunday event held at the White House as part of Trump’s 80th birthday celebrations. Court filings say the group discussed using explosive drones around the site, with snipers positioned in different locations nearby. They also allegedly planned a second wave in which armed attackers would storm the White House gates after the crowd was evacuated.
The investigation accelerated on June 10 after the mother of one of the main suspects, 19-year-old Tysen Proffer, contacted police because she was alarmed by his behavior. She said he had bought weapons, communicated with an extremist group online and searched for locations around Washington and near the White House. She also told police she saw him scouting different places and heard him talking about hit-and-run style missions. That tip led investigators to the group, which they later arrested in Ohio, California, Nebraska and Missouri.
Proffer admitted to investigators that he and others planned to attack the U.S. government during the UFC event. Prosecutors said the group intended to travel to the Fredericksburg, Virginia area before carrying out the operation. The filings say the suspects held an ideology aimed at accelerating the collapse of the existing society in order to replace it with a new order, and that some members expressed harsh antisemitic views while others focused on politicians they saw as supporters of Israel. Another arrested suspect, Abraham Alvarez, is accused of discussing attacks on Trump, Vance, Netanyahu and Musk, trying to find a drone operator, owning at least one drone and helping obtain explosives.
Searches at Proffer’s home uncovered maps and photographs of the Washington area, with possible sniper positions, drone launch points and other tactical details marked. His father told police the family had recently bought him a large amount of equipment with graduation money, including guns, ammunition, extra magazines, body armor and other gear. Deputy Secret Service Director Matt Quinn said there are still unidentified suspects and that authorities will keep working until everyone involved is found. Trump, asked about the threat at the G7 summit in France, said he had not heard about it.
