FBI Foiled ‘Planned Attacks’ Targeting White House UFC Event, Kash Patel Says

The FBI disrupted “planned attacks” that were intended to target the White House’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on Sunday evening, FBI Director Kash Patel said on Tuesday.

“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—and thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold,” Patel wrote in a June 16 statement on X.

Patel added that the FBI is “built to detect, respond to, and bring to justice those who threaten the lives of American citizens—particularly during large gatherings like the historic UFC 250 fight. That’s exactly what we did here.”

In a statement on X, Secret Service Director Sean Curran wrote that the agency “worked closely with the FBI throughout this investigation.”

“In the days leading up to this weekend, our special agents, mission support personnel, and technical security teams worked around the clock to identify those responsible and hold them accountable,” Curran said. “Equally important to our protective mission is ensuring accountability through the justice system.”

The motives and the names of the alleged plotters were not identified by either the FBI or Secret Service. Formal comments regarding the case would be submitted through court filings, Curran wrote.

The Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event, titled UFC Freedom 250, was held on the South Lawn of the White House and was attended by President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, members of his Cabinet, and senior White House aides. It drew a significant law enforcement presence around the White House.

Later on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance said the plot against the UFC event is the result of “what happens when people turn the rhetoric up so loud that disagreeing with somebody is a cause for violence.”

Speaking to Fox News, the vice president said that political leaders should not engage in highly charged rhetoric, but he also said that much of the political violence in the United States is coming from the political left.

In April, a man ran through a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, opening fire. The suspect was identified as Cole Thomas Allen, who pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate the president.

Trump faced two assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign, including in Butler, Pennsylvania, when he was shot in the right ear during a rally. In the other incident, Secret Service agents discovered a man armed with a rifle in the bushes near Trump’s golf course in Florida while he was playing.

The would-be Butler assassin, Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper team immediately after he opened fire at the event. After the Florida incident, Ryan Routh was sentenced to life in prison in February on charges that he sought to assassinate the president.

In September 2025, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed by a man as he was speaking at an event held at a Utah college. The suspect, Tyler Robinson, is being held in a Utah jail and is filing pre-trial court motions. He hasn’t entered a plea.

Speaking after the UFC event, the enterprise’s longtime head, Dana White, told reporters that the event won’t be repeated, citing high costs.

“It was an amazing experience. This was a one-of-one,” White said. “It will never happen again.”