The suspects are accused of planning to use drones loaded with explosives around the martial arts event.Image: keystone
June 17, 2026, 02:45June 17, 2026, 02:45
The Justice Department is charging five men with a suspected planned attack on the martial arts event on US President Donald Trump’s birthday. The charges include conspiracy to commit murder, the ministry said. The five suspects, aged between 19 and 32, were also targeting members of the government.
As the FBI previously announced, it had prevented the attack, which was supposedly planned for Sunday, by making arrests. Several people were taken into custody, wrote FBI chief Kash Patel on the X platform. The allegedly planned attacks were “nipped in the bud.” The Justice Department said the arrests took place over the weekend in the states of Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska and California.
On June 10, FBI and our law enforcement partners became aware of a potential threat to the UFC America 250 event in Washington, DC involving individuals outside of the National Capital Region – and thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of… pic.twitter.com/PbWkIk1Lr5
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) June 16, 2026
The suspects are accused of planning to use drones loaded with explosives around the martial arts event in order to force an evacuation of the event. Snipers were then supposed to target “high-ranking targets” in the fleeing crowd. The FBI and law enforcement authorities became aware of a “potential threat” to the event on June 10, Patel wrote.
Event on Trump’s birthday
US President Trump is considered a fan of mixed martial arts – an often bloody combat sport that combines techniques from boxing, wrestling, kickboxing, karate and jiu-jitsu, among others. At Sunday’s event, top stars from the professional MMA league Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) competed against each other in a specially built arena.
In addition to Trump and his family, the guests also included several cabinet members and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The official occasion was not Trump’s birthday, but the celebrations surrounding the 250th Independence Day of the USA. However, this holiday is only on July 4th. (sda/dpa)