Federal law enforcement officials are seething over FBI Director Kash Patel's public announcement of arrests in a foiled attack targeting a UFC championship event at the White House, concerned his social media posts compromised an ongoing investigation that had only just begun to unwind.
The plot involved more than two dozen individuals communicating on encrypted platforms about flying explosives-laden drones onto the South Lawn and shooting at fleeing spectators during the Ultimate Fighting Championship event honoring America's 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump's 80th birthday. Law enforcement moved deliberately and quietly over several days to take suspects into custody, but kept details tightly held because the investigation remained active.
Patel posted about the arrests on X and Truth Social early Tuesday morning, crediting the FBI while nodding to "law enforcement partners." The move caught multiple law enforcement officials off guard. Three officials confirmed that when Patel made his announcement, authorities were still in the field conducting interviews and rounding up suspects as part of what remained a sealed federal case.
One federal law enforcement official told reporters the director "did a lot of damage" by treating the contributions of other agencies as "an afterthought." Another official who was actively working the case said they felt "shocked" by the disclosure and worried it could spook remaining suspects and derail the probe. A third official noted bluntly: "There were still people being rounded up on a sealed federal case. It's not great."
The investigation had identified 14 of 26 suspects under examination, with five already in custody by Tuesday morning. Three remained partially identified and nine had not yet been connected to any individual. A competing account from another law enforcement official suggested Patel was justified in announcing because the five arrests had already been made and authorities had determined there was no ongoing threat to public safety or to the integrity of law enforcement's continued work.
The Secret Service, which had led the investigation from the start, made its frustration known with particular sting. Deputy Director Matt Quinn said at a news conference that his agency chose not to leak details "in order to maintain the integrity of the investigation and the security plan." Quinn invoked an old lesson from his early career in the agency's New York office: "Don't choke on your own smoke."
Secret Service Director Sean Curran echoed the concern in a statement, emphasizing that "equally important to our protective mission is ensuring accountability through the justice system." He said formal comments about the case would come through court filings, not public pronouncements.
The investigation began not with federal agents but with a mother's call to local law enforcement in Ohio. On June 10, the Knox County Sheriff's Office and Danville Police Department went to the home of 19-year-old Tycen Proper after his family expressed concern about his behavior. Proper, who had made sympathetic comments about Adolf Hitler and posted anti-Semitic content on Facebook, was taken into custody at a mental health facility. During an FBI interview, he revealed details of the encrypted chat where the attack was being planned.
By Friday, another suspect from West Virginia informed the FBI that group members had canceled their attack plans that morning. An FBI task force officer filed a criminal complaint against Proper on Friday, but a federal prosecutor successfully requested that a magistrate judge seal the case on Monday as the wider investigation continued to develop.
By the end of Tuesday, five defendants faced federal charges: Proper; 24-year-old Bryan Omar Roa; 32-year-old Michael Alan Thomas; 32-year-old Daniel Eskridge; and 31-year-old Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez. Most defense attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
Patel's public actions have drawn scrutiny before. He filed a $250 million lawsuit against The Atlantic over a story examining his drinking habits, and Trump himself expressed disappointment with Patel's conduct at the Olympics when the director was filmed drinking beer with the men's hockey team after their gold medal win. The lawsuit remains ongoing.
The FBI declined to dispute the frustrations from career agents but instead released a joint statement with the Secret Service praising their "strong working relationship" and saying the investigation "could not have happened without the great work and coordination between our two agencies."
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Patel's move looks like a director more interested in headlines than protecting an investigation, and his partners clearly think he handed suspects a roadmap to disappear."
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