The UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14, 2026. Photo by Kent Nishimura-Pool/Getty Images
WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters-WSAU) – The FBI said on Tuesday it had thwarted a potential threat ahead of the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts event in Washington last weekend and has multiple people in custody.
Fox News Digital cited unidentified sources as saying the alleged plot involved using explosive-laden drones to hit buildings near the event.
“On June 10, FBI and our law enforcement partners became aware of a potential threat to the UFC America 250 event in Washington, D.C. involving individuals outside of the National Capital Region,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement posted on X.
Five people were in custody and 23 were identified as part of a network of plotters, Fox News Digital reported.
According to federal court documents, one of the suspects, Michael Alan Thomas, told investigators that he agreed to participate in the plot because he believed in conspiracy theories that the United States government and President Trump were protecting those involved in Jeffery Epstein’s crimes and were still intentionally harming children. The FBI reported that messages in the groups Signal communications assisted authorities in recovering firearms and ammo while also indicating that a sniper position had been prepared to carry out the attack.
President Donald Trump, at the Group of Seven summit in Evian, France, said he had not heard about the planned attack.
Vice President JD Vance said authorities were trying to look at the underground networks that would drive such violence.
“Twenty-three people do not get to the point where they’re going to commit a mass terror incident in Washington, D.C. without some serious funding, without some serious coordination,” Vance said in a Fox News interview. “That’s not a few guys doing crazy stuff, that is a coordinated planned terrorist plot,” he told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” program.
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