By ERIC TUCKER<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Law enforcement officials disrupted a planned attack targeting\u00a0the UFC cage-fighting show<\/a>\u00a0staged at the White House this past weekend, according to court papers unsealed Tuesday that say plotters who harbored fringe conspiracy theories spoke of flying explosives-laden drones and shooting panicked crowd members as they fled.<\/p>\n Investigators recovered high-powered firearms from several of the suspects and reviewed encrypted text messages between roughly 20 participants who shared detailed maps and aerial photographs of the area and discussed the need for a \u201csafe house\u201d and escape routes after the intended attack, the documents show.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Several suspects or co-conspirators who were questioned by the authorities said they did not intend themselves to carry out violence but planned to instead observe others. One said he would have traveled to the UFC event as a protester but had to return home after his vehicle malfunctioned. And though the participants spoke of using drones rigged with explosives, charging documents suggest they were still looking to acquire such equipment when the plot was interrupted.<\/p>\n United by conspiracy theories and anger over the country\u2019s direction<\/p>\n Law enforcement officials learned about the possible threat on June 10, four days before\u00a0the mixed martial arts extravaganza<\/a>\u00a0on the White House\u2019s South Lawn, \u201cand thanks to the rapid action of the FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold,\u201d Director Kash Patel said in a post on X on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Five people from states including Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska and California were arrested on federal charges, the Justice Department said.<\/p>\n Asked about the arrests Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance said there was \u201cmore violent rhetoric coming from the left than the right these days.\u201d But the charging documents paint a more muddled view of their views, depicting them as espousing a tangled web of anti-government sentiment, antisemitic grievances, fury over President Donald Trump administration\u2019s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and conspiracy theories about a powerful elite that sacrifices and consumes children.<\/p>\n Both Trump and Vance said Tuesday that they had not been briefed in advance of the plot. A top Secret Service official suggested Tuesday the investigation was continuing and that an announcement might have been premature.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone that believes that case was worked in a bubble is naive,\u201d Deputy Secret Service Director Matthew Quinn told reporters at an unrelated news conference. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you the Secret Service led that investigation from the beginning. I\u2019ll tell you that it\u2019s ongoing. In order to maintain the integrity of the investigation and the security plan, we chose not to leak it.\u201d<\/p>\n Communications took place on TikTok and Signal<\/p>\n Among those arrested was Tycen Proper, a 19-year-old Ohio man whose mother contacted local law enforcement last week with concerns about his firearms purchases and online communications, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.<\/p>\n Proper admitted in an interview with law enforcement that he participated in the planning of an attack, according to the affidavit, which says some members of the group began communicating with each other last March through a TikTok group called \u201cVanguard of the Old.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe members of the group stated that they wanted to protect the United States, which they believed was headed in the wrong direction,\u201d the affidavit says. \u201cMembers of the group believed that the United States needed to be torn down so that it could be rebuilt. Some expressed a desire that people who were involved with\u00a0Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>\u00a0should not govern the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump, who celebrated his 80th birthday at the UFC event on Sunday, was friends with Epstein many years ago but has said he ended their relationship before the disgraced financier\u2019s crimes became known. Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.<\/p>\n A lawyer for Proper, who is charged with firearms offenses and crimes including attempted murder of an officer or employee of the United States, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n