Seven people now face federal charges for plotting to fly explosive drones into President Trump's UFC event on the White House lawn and shoot fleeing attendees — and the establishment press would rather gossip about Cabinet feuds.
The Justice Department announced Monday that William Lee Spartacus Falkner, arrested Friday in Washington state, and Jordan W. Rincker, 28, arrested Sunday in Missouri, have each been charged with conspiracy to commit murder. The arrests bring to seven the total number of people facing federal charges in a plot to attack the June 14 UFC Freedom 250 event, held on the White House South Lawn on Trump's 80th birthday.
According to an FBI affidavit, 19-year-old Tycen Proper of Ohio — whose mother contacted police over his firearms purchases and online communications — told investigators the group wanted to trigger a revolution. Their plan: fly explosive-laden drones into the event, then shoot panicked crowd members as they fled. Roughly 20 participants shared detailed maps, aerial photographs, and discussed safe houses and escape routes via encrypted messages. NBC News reported that Falkner is trained in drone operation and allegedly discussed how to rig them with explosives. Rincker allegedly distributed $1,200 to co-conspirators and traded a 12-gauge pump shotgun for a ballistic plate, 3-D printer, and other items. Investigators recovered rifles, a 9mm pistol, a 3D-printed Glock-style handgun, a gas mask, and a shield at Rincker's home.
Court records, however, suggest the plot may have been more aspiration than capability. Several suspects told authorities they did not intend to carry out violence themselves. Charging documents indicate participants were still looking to acquire drone equipment when the plot was disrupted. The mother of one suspect tipped off law enforcement on June 10 — four days before the event.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a news release: "Law enforcement continues to do what it does — move to disrupt and hold accountable those allegedly plotting to do harm on the White House Grounds on June 14."
Now consider what the establishment press chose to highlight instead. HuffPost's lead story the same cycle: Trump enjoying the "sport" of mocking Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick after a fight with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over a Ukraine minerals deal. The New Yorker devoted thousands of words to reviewing Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's new book "Regime Change," cataloguing Trump's character flaws and internal West Wing drama. Both outlets framed palace intrigue as the real news; neither mentioned the assassination plot.
NBC News and the Chicago Tribune covered the arrests straight. But the broader media ecosystem — the same one that spent years amplifying every anonymously-sourced leak about Trump — couldn't be bothered to give equal air to an actual conspiracy to kill the president and massacre Americans at a public event.
A plot involving explosives, drones, and encrypted communications among 20 people targeting the president of the United States is not a footnote. The question isn't whether the suspects were competent enough to pull it off. The question is why the people who style themselves democracy's guardians would rather sell you gossip about who Trump mocked at a meeting.
