Court documents have revealed a detailed plot by a far-right group to assassinate President Donald Trump and other officials at the Ultimate Fighting Championship event held at the White House on June 14, 2026. The plot, foiled by law enforcement, involved at least 19 conspirators, eight of whom are in custody as of Friday.
Plot Details and Key Figures
According to an affidavit, 19-year-old Tycen Proper, from a small Ohio town, used his graduation money to purchase a rifle, shotgun, body armor, and ammunition. He quit his job to focus on the plot with online friends, studying maps of Washington DC. His parents, alarmed by his behavior, alerted police.
The conspirators, mostly men in their 20s and 30s, met on TikTok and later moved to encrypted messaging apps Signal and SimpleX, where they organized into tiers based on risk tolerance. Some conducted in-person tactical training.
Attack Plan
The plan involved staging a demonstration near the White House to distract law enforcement. As Trump and officials watched the UFC fight, the group would deploy drone-borne explosives, causing panic and funneling evacuees toward snipers. A second wave would storm the White House. One conspirator described it as "a fucking bloodbath."
Ideological Motivations
Despite targeting Republicans, the plotters held far-right, anti-government, and antisemitic views. They were angered by Trump's alliance with Israel and used a leftwing website tracking Aipac donations to select targets. Proper praised Adolf Hitler online, and another conspirator, Michael Alan Thomas, 32, believed the government was run by an elite group protecting pedophiles, blaming Jews and Israel for the Iran war.
Michael Edison Hayden, a journalist and extremism analyst, said far-right communities are often hostile to both Trump and Democrats. He noted the plot's accelerationist aim to trigger a second American Revolution.
Role of Christian Extremism
Proper's mother reported that he had become more religious and was manipulated by an online group with Christian-based ideology. Investigators found a diary where Proper wrote about the government sacrificing children to a demonic figure, echoing QAnon and antisemitic tropes.
Matthew D Taylor, a scholar of Christian nationalism, described an ideological civil war within the far right. One faction supports Trump and Christian Zionism; the other, anti-interventionist Christian nationalists, feels betrayed by Trump's Israel alliance. The Iran war was a breaking point, Taylor said.
Official Response and Analysis
Vice President JD Vance downplayed the plot, calling it "not that advanced" and praising law enforcement. Some conservative outlets suggested the plotters were left-wing, but analysts dismiss this as disingenuous.
While the plot was amateurish—conspirators were stopped before reaching Washington, and one had car trouble—law enforcement recovered thousands of rounds of ammunition. Taylor warned that thousands of young men may be drawn into similar communities, and that prevention often relies on family members tipping off police, a "thin branch" of defense.
