Vice President Vance said Tuesday night that an alleged plot to attack lawmakers attending a UFC event at the White House was not far along in its planning stages, revealing the alleged perpetrators weren’t in the nation’s capital at the time of the high-profile event.
The FBI and its law enforcement partners quickly thwarted the potential threat, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.
The Justice Department said the group had planned to fly small drones with explosives to detonate above the north side of the UFC arena, forcing “high value targets” to evacuate. They would then act as snipers and shoot their targets.
Vance attended the event dubbed UFC Freedom 250, along with President Donald Trump, members of his family, and senior administration officials.
He described the threat as “very, very dark stuff” even though the planned attack wasn’t carried out.
“And so, I get why people are so fascinated by it. I do think the political violence and rhetoric in this country is out of control. But thank God we have good law enforcement. We've got good FBI because it didn't even get close to the point of execution,” Vance added, further condemning rhetoric that leads to political violence.
Federal prosecutors said that the alleged perpetrators communicated about their plot through an encrypted app. According to court documents, one user in the chat allegedly advocated for launching a second American Revolution, writing that the group's objective was to "restore the old republic." The user claimed that corporations, politicians, and foreign actors had stripped power from the people and undermined the nation's constitutional republic.
Investigators said searches carried out across several states resulted in the seizure of rifles, handguns, ammunition, tactical vests, ballistic plates, radios, and other equipment.
The suspects have been identified as Tycen Proper of Ohio, Daniel Eskridge of Missouri, Abraham Alvarez of Nebraska, and Bryan Roa and Michael Thomas of California.
They face a slew of charges including conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder of federal officials, and firearms offenses.
If convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. According to the DOJ, conspiracy to commit violence on White House grounds carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.