ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
On Sunday, President Trump and his family sat ringside to watch the UFC cage fighting match at the White House. Tech billionaires, politicians and Cabinet officials were also in the crowd. Today, the Justice Department says five people have been arrested and charged with plotting to attack the event. NPR Justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is covering this and joins us now. Hi, Ryan.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Hi there.
FLORIDO: Let's start with this alleged plot. What have officials said about it?
LUCAS: Well, FBI Director Kash Patel first announced this in a post on social media this morning. He said the FBI and its partners were made aware of a potential threat to the UFC fight at the White House on June 10. So that's just four days before the event took place. The Justice Department says five people have now been arrested in Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska and California. This morning, the Secret Service deputy director, Matthew Quinn, told reporters that this plot was a serious threat. He also said this about the alleged plot.
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MATTHEW QUINN: I'd say it was unique due to the numbers involved, the level of planning involved. It was an active plot, yes, involving purported - claimed to be - planned to use drones, snipers, etc.
LUCAS: Now, Quinn also said suspects are still at large, and this is very much an ongoing investigation.
FLORIDO: Let's go back to what the deputy director of the Secret Service just said there, drones and snipers. What more, if anything, can you tell us about that?
LUCAS: Well, one of the people arrested was 19-year-old Tycen Proper. And an FBI affidavit unsealed in federal court in Ohio says that on Wednesday night, Proper's parents called local police because they had concerns about their son. They were worried about recent gun purchases he'd made and also people he was in touch with online, and court papers say Proper was admitted to a local hospital because of homicidal intent. The FBI was called in. Agents followed up the next day, so just three days before the UFC fight.
They interviewed Proper. He allegedly told them plotters were planning to meet up in Fredericksburg, Virginia, over the weekend. They were to bring guns, ammunition, supplies to conduct an attack, and he allegedly told the FBI the target was the White House UFC event. And the plan was to fly small drones laden with explosives over the UFC arena, on the southern - on the South Lawn of the White House and then to detonate the drones, to blow them up. The explosions were then supposed to drive the crowd to flee south where gunmen were to have taken up positions to open fire on the crowd and high-value targets. Proper allegedly told the FBI the attack was designed to jump-start a revolution in the United States.
FLORIDO: Is there any clue as to why Proper and others allegedly wanted to jump-start a revolution?
LUCAS: Well, in his interview with the FBI, Proper allegedly told agents that this group of people he was working with believe the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction, that it needs to be torn down and rebuilt. Proper's mother told agents that the group had ultrareligious and anti-government views. She said they had grievances about government corruption, about the handling of the Epstein files, about data centers. Proper himself had also allegedly made antisemitic statements in front of his family and online. Other defendants held similar views. Now, it's unclear how close this plot came to actually happening, but it's a very compressed timeframe that we're talking about. At this moment, Proper has been charged with conspiracy and attempted murder and other offenses. Other arrests have been made, but as I said, officials say suspects are still at large.
FLORIDO: Well that's NPR's Justice correspondent Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thanks for covering this for us.
LUCAS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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