Drone-sniper attack plan foiled at White House in Trump’s presence

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has claimed to have foiled a plan to use drones and snipers to attack the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on the White House lawn in the presence of US President Donald Trump.

The agency alleged that the plan was to create panic by attacking with explosive-laden drones and then have snipers shoot at guests and politicians who fled. Five people have been arrested in the incident.

The news agency Reuters says that the FBI made this claim in a document submitted to the court regarding the foiling of the attack plan at the UFC mixed martial arts event. According to the document, the plan was to attack the north side of the White House using explosive-laden drones. And through this, the people present would be forced to go to a specific exit route by panicking. Snipers then opened fire on fleeing politicians and other guests.

US President Donald Trump was attending the event to mark his 80th birthday. Several senior Republican lawmakers, donors and administration officials also attended the event to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence. However, the event passed without any untoward incident.

Court documents state that the five defendants believed in anti-government conspiracy theories. They were also angry about the handling of documents related to the investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. According to the documents, one of the defendants expressed an interest in targeting lawmakers who had received campaign donations from pro-Israel groups.

FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement to X, “On June 10, the FBI and our law enforcement partners learned of a potential threat against the UFC America 250 event in Washington, D.C. It involved individuals from outside the National Capital Region.

At least three of the five arrested have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder. They also face charges of conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States and weapons charges. They have not yet entered their pleas in court. Information about their lawyers was not immediately available.

On the other hand, a report by Fox News Digital said that the ring could have as many as 23 members.

The mother of 19-year-old Tyson Propper in Ohio called local police to report that her son had purchased several weapons and was communicating with suspicious people online. That's where investigators learned about the plan.

According to the FBI affidavit, Tyson Propper later admitted that he was aware of the coordinated attack plan at the UFC event.

Meanwhile, at the G-7 summit in Evian, France, Trump said that he had not heard anything about the attack plan before. US Vice President JD Vance said authorities were trying to investigate the covert networks behind such violence.

In an interview with Fox News, he said, "23 people cannot reach the level of a major terrorist attack in Washington, D.C., unless there is significant funding and coordination behind it." He added, "This was not the crazy behavior of a few people. This was a coordinated and planned terrorist conspiracy."