{"id":268528,"date":"2026-06-16T15:21:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/268528\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T15:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:21:19","slug":"fbi-arrests-5-people-in-connection-with-drone-attack-plot-against-white-house-ufc-freedom-250-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/268528\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI arrests 5 people in connection with drone attack plot against White House UFC Freedom 250 event"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 The FBI thwarted an explosive drone attack targeting\u00a0Sunday\u2019s UFC Freedom 250 event<\/a>\u00a0on the White House South Lawn and have already taken five suspects into custody, officials told The Post Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The multi-phase terror attack allegedly involved using explosive-laden drone aircraft to strike buildings in the vicinity of the event, sparking mass panic and driving the fleeing crowd toward a sniper team poised to pick victims off, the officials said.<\/p>\n

A \u201csecond wave\u201d of attackers then allegedly planned to storm the White House gate, the officials added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

President Trump arrives with UFC CEO Dana White for UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 14, 2026. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital\u00a0first reported<\/a>\u00a0on the attack plan.<\/p>\n

The plot was \u201cstopped cold\u201d on June 10 after investigators executed a search warrant in Cincinnati, where the first arrest was made, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Some of the suspects traveled to Fredericksburg, Va. on June 12 or 13 to make preparations for the attack.<\/p>\n

Upon investigating a suspect\u2019s iPhone, authorities found at least 23 users of encrypted chat app Signal involved in discussing parameters of what could have been a devastating terror attack in the heart of the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

The Blue Angels fly over the White House during the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn at the White House on June 14, 2026, in Washington, DC. @WhiteHouse\/X<\/p>\n

A suspect told investigators the goal of the attack was to target \u201ccapitalist elites,\u201d \u201cbillionaires\u201d and politicians who received money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), officials also said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the result represented the best of investigative work, it was also nothing out of the ordinary for this law enforcement team \u2014 we are built to detect, respond to, and bring to justice those who threaten the lives of American citizens \u2014 particularly during large gatherings like the historic UFC 250 fight,\u201d Patel later wrote on\u00a0X<\/a>\u00a0praising the coordinated law enforcement effort.<\/p>\n

US Marshals provide security at the UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest on The Ellipse ahead of the UFC Freedom 250 fight on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14, 2026 in Washington, DC. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The high-profile combat sports extravaganza coincided with\u00a0President Trump\u2019s 80th birthday<\/a>, and was attended by around 4,300 people, including 1,200 active-duty service members.<\/p>\n

An estimated 80,000 to 85,000 more fans attended a ticketed watch party on the Ellipse just south of the executive mansion, while thousands more without tickets gathered on the National Mall to try to catch a view of the seven-fight card on giant screens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 The FBI thwarted an explosive drone attack targeting\u00a0Sunday\u2019s UFC Freedom 250 event\u00a0on the White House South…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,1219,5970,9,11,10,23723,58,5561],"class_list":["post-268528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-donald-trump","tag-drones","tag-fbi","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-ufc","tag-us-news","tag-white-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}