World
Suspects in White House attack plot targeted lawmakers linked to Israel — FBI
The suspects arrested for plotting to attack the White House during a mixed martial arts event attended by US President Donald Trump and other top officials over the weekend were seeking to harm politicians linked to Israel, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday.
FBI Director Kash Patel said that US law enforcement had disrupted the attempted attack, calling the plot a “multi-state operation” planned by “multiple individuals” who had discussed using drones and gunfire to attack Sunday’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on the White House lawn.
The “UFC Freedom 250” event fell on Trump’s 80th birthday and was meant to kick off this year’s festivities for the 250th anniversary of US independence.
One of the suspects, Tycen Proper, 19, told his co-conspirators on May 13 that the assailants should target US Sen. Marsha Blackburn, according to the criminal complaint filed by an FBI agent investigating the case.
“I got a possible target Marsha Blackburn is senator for Tennessee,” Proper said in a chat.
Asked why the group should target Blackburn, Proper said, “She’s taken money from the Israel pro Israel [sic] lobby and supports them,” according to the complaint.
Two weeks later, Proper said in a text message, “These are people we’re going to focus on,” alongside images of US Sen. Jim Justice, US Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, US Rep. Carol Miller, and US Rep. Riley Moore.
The images appeared to have been taken from the website “TrackAIPAC.com” and included information about how much money each lawmaker had received from “pro-Israel PACS,” the complaint said.
During the investigation, police spoke with Proper’s father and grandmother, who said that Proper had recently made statements in support of Adolf Hitler and posted antisemitic comments on social media, according to the complaint.
Proper was charged with offenses related to conspiracy, attempted murder and firearms.
Court filings for the other defendants did not appear to be immediately available.
Family’s tip foils plot to overthrow US
The investigation began last week, when Proper’s mother called local police in Danville, Ohio, saying she was worried about her son’s online activity and firearm purchases.
His mother said that Proper, who lived with his parents, had quit his job, had been making plans with individuals he met online and was leaving for a weekend trip with his online acquaintances.
Proper’s father said the suspect had spent around $3,000 of his graduation money buying camping gear, food, body armor, a shotgun, a rifle and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Proper’s family turned the weaponry over to police, the criminal complaint said.
Proper was detained in a medical treatment facility and local police informed the FBI.
His mother told the FBI that Proper’s online acquaintances claimed to be “ex-military and Christian-based,” and had expressed ultra-religious and anti-government views related to corruption, Jeffrey Epstein conspiracies and data centers — all political flashpoints in the US.
Proper had become increasingly religious, had started physical training related to the online group, and had been researching locations around Washington, DC, his mother told investigators.
When she asked her son about his activities, he described the plans as “recon” and “hit and run missions,” according to the complaint.
Proper’s other family members said he had withdrawn from his family and spent most of his time online.
During questioning, Proper admitted to planning a coordinated attack against the US government during Sunday’s UFC event. The plot started in a TikTok group in March.
“Members of the group believed that the United States needed to be torn down so that it could be rebuilt,” the FBI investigator wrote. “Some expressed a desire that people who were involved with Jeffrey Epstein should not govern the country.”
The group members sought to prove their trustworthiness and commitment to each other by sharing identification documents and workout videos, and moved their communications to the encrypted messaging app Signal.
The conspirators planned to leave their homes with their weapons and equipment in the days ahead of the UFC event, and meet each other in Fredericksburg, Virginia, an hour’s drive from the White House.
They planned to stage a protest near the White House, and while the protest was underway, dispatch small, explosive-laden drones that would detonate over the UFC event, forcing an evacuation. The purpose of the protest was not clear.
Attackers aimed with rifles, stationed near an evacuation point, would shoot their targets as they fled the UFC event, according to the plan.
The intention was to “jumpstart” a revolution in the US, Proper told investigators.
A search warrant of Proper’s iPhone turned up maps of the area that had highlighted locations for snipers and drone launches.
The group’s ideology appeared related to accelerationism, an extremist, white supremacist belief that violent acts can accelerate societal collapse to make way for a white nationalist state.
The group’s focus on AIPAC highlighted how antagonism toward Israel and Jews is a point of convergence between the far left and far right. The website allegedly used by Proper to identify targets, Track AIPAC, was founded by far-left anti-Israel activists, for example.
Security experts have previously warned that small, commercially available drones pose a terror threat within the US.
