DOJ details planned sniper attack at White House

[0:00] here today to discuss the indictment of eight men who are charged in two conspiracies related to [0:06] the plot to kill federal government officials and other members of the public who attended the [0:12] Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC Freedom 250 event in Washington, D.C. at the White House [0:18] on June 14th. Before I continue, I want to remind everybody that what I am about to discuss [0:26] is alleged in charging instruments that contain allegations only and that the defendants we're [0:32] going to talk about today are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. As our [0:39] court filings reveal, the investigation of this plot began on June 10th right here in the [0:44] Southern District of Ohio when Knox County Sheriff's deputies and Danville police officers [0:50] responded to the Knox County resident of Tyson Proper after receiving a report from a concerned [0:59] family member. Upon further investigation, Proper was arrested and charged in this district [1:07] by criminal complaint. The investigation continued and led to the arrest of and federal criminal [1:14] complaints filed against six other individuals located in four other federal jurisdictions across [1:21] the country. Those individuals are Abraham Alvarez, Daniel Eskridge, William Falker, Jordan Rinker, [1:31] Brian Roa, and Michael Thomas. Thanks to this quick law enforcement action and close coordination [1:41] and cooperation between federal prosecutors in my office and those in the Central District of [1:47] California, the Western District of Missouri, the District of Nebraska, and the Western District [1:54] of Washington, as well as from the Department of Justice's National Security Division. This alleged plot [2:01] was disrupted before it could be carried out, ensuring a safe and successful UFC Freedom 250 event [2:09] on June 14th. The indictment handed down yesterday consolidates all of these previously filed criminal [2:18] complaints into one charging instrument and adds an eighth defendant to the conspiracy, Chandler D. [2:26] Skaggs, 21, of Chapmanville, West Virginia. Mr. Skaggs was taken into custody a few days ago in West [2:34] Virginia. The indictment charges all eight men with two conspiracy counts. The first count is a conspiracy [2:43] to provide material support to terrorists by way of money, firearms, ammunition, body armor, [2:50] explosives, drones, medical and communications equipment, as well as personnel, with the knowledge [2:58] and intent that those resources were to be used in preparation for and to carry out the murder [3:05] of federal officers and employees in the course of an attack on a federal facility and the use of a [3:13] weapon of mass destruction. That first conspiracy count is punishable by up to 15 years of imprisonment. [3:22] The second count is a conspiracy to commit murder on federal government territory and to murder a [3:29] federal government official, including the president of the United States, the vice president of the [3:34] United States and members of Congress. That second count is punishable by up to a lifetime of [3:42] imprisonment. The indictment details several overt acts allegedly committed by the defendants in May [3:52] and June of this year, including acquiring and maintaining firearms, ammunition and body armor, [4:00] meeting to train in marksmanship and combat tactics, meeting to provide firearms and other gear to each [4:07] other, purchasing a 3D printer to make drones, making plans to travel together to Washington, D.C. [4:17] and actually beginning travel to Washington, D.C. The allegations in this indictment, we allege, [4:25] show that these men were not simply airing grievances from behind their keyboards and sharing [4:31] like-minded political ideologies. Rather, they took action to carry out a plot to attack the UFC Freedom [4:40] 250 event and to murder federal officials at the highest levels of our government. Political discourse [4:49] has many places in our society. Political violence has none. Because of the diligent around-the-clock work [4:59] of our AUSAs, our law enforcement partners, our sister U.S. Attorney's offices around the country [5:04] and the National Security Division, these eight men are now in custody and this threat to our government [5:11] and to the public, has been successfully neutralized. But our work is not finished. My office, along with our great [5:20] law enforcement partners, will continue to do everything in our power to protect our fellow citizens from threats to their [5:28] safety and to hold accountable those who would commit violence against our nation and its leaders. So I'm now going to turn [5:37] things over to Special Agent in Charge Jason Cromartie from the FBI. As mentioned, the group was making plans [5:51] and taking steps to conduct an attack on our nation's capital. However, every day, the FBI takes steps to [5:58] identify and to protect people from those threats. Good morning. My name is Jason Cromartie. I'm the Special Agent [6:05] in Charge for FBI Cincinnati, which covers the southern and central portions of Ohio. The mission of the FBI's [6:13] Joint Terrorism Task Force is to detect and disrupt terror plots that target Americans with an emphasis [6:19] on preventing incidents before they occur. I'm honored to be here today with our partners to announce [6:25] these indictments related to the threats against the Freedom 250 Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, [6:32] the event that was to be held at the White House last month. This is a classic example of see [6:38] something, say something, saving lives, and how the law enforcement partnership comes together [6:44] to keep our communities safe. The FBI is grateful for these partnerships that have helped prevent [6:49] a tragedy. From the initial 911 call, our law enforcement colleagues with the Danville Police [6:55] Department and the Knox County Sheriff's Office recognized a potential threat. Their deputies [7:00] and patrol officers did a tremendous job at evaluating the situation, taking immediate action, [7:06] and exposing this terrorist threat, and then contacting the FBI. When the FBI began to investigate [7:12] Tyson proper, we quickly learned of the alleged plot involved multiple people across the country [7:19] coordinating and planning a violent attack. The FBI notified the Secret Service, who are great partners [7:26] in our efforts to protect the U.S. Homeland. Command post coordinator interviews, intelligence analysis, [7:32] and execution of search warrants around the country quickly identified additional participants [7:38] evidence and evidence of this conspiracy. This resulted in additional subjects being arrested [7:43] by the FBI over a matter of days in several states, as mentioned, in Missouri, Nebraska, [7:48] and California. Through this investigation, we learned the group allegedly planned to carry out [7:54] a mass casualty attack involving the use of drones, armed with explosives, and firearms meant [8:00] to shoot people fleeing in the crowds. Our command posts also included membership of the Secret Service [8:06] Service and other partners to share information in real time and to help ensure no violence occurred [8:11] at the White House UFC event or any other high-profile events. Again, the FBI would like to thank [8:17] our local partners at the Knox County Sheriff's Office, the Danville Police Department, [8:21] and particularly members of the Columbus Division of Police, who are integral part of this investigation. [8:27] I must commend the special agents, the task force officers, the intelligence analysts, [8:32] and the other team members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the many other law enforcement [8:36] agencies and officers around the country for their work on this case. They continue their commitment [8:41] to keeping people safe and working together to protect our nation, especially the work by the United [8:48] States Attorney's Office and the Southern District of Ohio, who helped us put together this case. [8:52] Together, we worked long hours, ceaselessly over several weeks to investigate, [8:57] make fast work of uncovering connections and disrupting this plot. I also want to thank FBI [9:03] leadership and the various supporting divisions of FBI headquarters and the many FBI field offices [9:08] coast to coast who are directly involved in this investigation. They've all committed significant [9:14] amount of resource to ensure this conspiracy was aggressively and thoroughly investigated. [9:20] Finally, the FBI wants to remind the public how important it is to speak up when they are concerned [9:27] about something and they observe something that just not is not, they observe this isn't right. [9:32] Again, we've all heard this saying, see something, say something. This was an excellent case of [9:36] someone who was concerned by what they were seeing and contacted law enforcement before violence [9:41] could occur. I encourage the public, if something does not seem right, please alert the authorities. [9:48] You can always call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or in an emergency, please call 911. It is our partnerships [9:56] with law enforcement and with the public together that strengthen our safety nationwide. Thank you. [10:03] I'll now turn it over to the U.S. Secret Service, Jason Reese. Thanks, Jason. Good morning. My name is [10:12] Jason Reese. I'm the special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service in Cincinnati. I'd like to begin [10:19] by thanking the U.S. Attorney's Office, the U.S. Attorney and his staff, our federal and local partners [10:25] at the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the special agents and the technical investigators [10:31] who got us to this point. There is no mission of greater importance to the Secret Service than the [10:38] protection of our nation's leaders. And the work put into this investigation makes that point crystal [10:44] clear. When the information came in, it was a great example of how layers of law enforcement [10:51] can work efficiently together. Once we had the information that we needed, the Secret Service [10:57] and federal and local partners were able to identify and lawfully interrupt a communication network [11:04] that gave us a roadmap to a sinister plot targeting the White House complex. Our agents and support [11:11] staff are always on alert. In this case, they worked around the clock and in a short window of time [11:18] in order to mitigate and interdict this threat. I'm truly grateful for their tenacity. From here, [11:26] the investigation and findings will be presented in court. We'll protect the integrity of that process [11:32] and any further comments will be made through official court filings. Lastly, I want to make very clear [11:39] to the public that nobody is more aware of the threats that lurk outside of our doors than the Secret [11:45] Service. Rest assured that this agency's vigilance and dedication to duty will continue to keep our [11:53] nation's leaders and institutions safe. I'd like to introduce to you the Deputy Chief from the [12:00] Columbus Division of Police, Deputy Chief Segal. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Rob Segal. I'm a [12:10] Deputy Chief over Special Operations Subdivision of the Columbus Division of Police. On behalf of Chief [12:15] Elaine Bryant, I wanted to thank all of our federal, state and local partners for their efforts and [12:20] collaboration on this case. Ohio Homeland Security protects the public by analyzing threats, sharing [12:26] intelligence, safeguarding critical infrastructure and coordinating emergency preparedness and [12:32] response. Region 4, which includes much of Central Ohio, including Knox County, works together to [12:38] safeguard the largest city in Ohio and anything in the region which could impact Columbus. As the [12:45] largest department in the state, the Columbus Division of Police has dedicated resources to the [12:50] Homeland Security of our Homeland Security Section counterterrorism unit and assigned them to the [12:56] statewide terror terrorism analysis and crime center, which is the Ohio's fusion center. The fusion [13:03] center network allows us to quickly address rapidly evolving situations and threats to our city, [13:08] state and throughout the nation. We also dedicate many resources to the local FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, [13:16] and we're proud of that partnership. These efforts cannot be accomplished alone. They're successful [13:21] because of the partnerships, but not just because of the partnerships with law enforcement. It's the [13:26] partnerships with the communities we serve. We would like to thank everyone involved in this case [13:31] who set saw something, said something and took action. This is how we work together to ensure our [13:38] communities thrive and our residents feel safe showing up to large events. Thank you. Okay, [13:49] we can now take some questions. I'm not aware of him being on anybody's radar before this [14:00] concerned family member made the call to the sheriff's office. [14:08] We have some information and I'm going to try to stick to what's been filed in our these various [14:17] complaints have been filed in the indictments, but there's some information in those indictments about [14:23] meetings that occurred. In particular, there's a meeting I think it was on June 13th between [14:29] one of the the subjects in Nebraska, Alvarez and a in a Missouri based subject. I think it was Mr. [14:35] Rinker. So they did meet up and certainly we have information in our complaints and in the indictment [14:42] talking about how there were plans to meet up, plans for Mr. Proper to drive to West Virginia to meet [14:46] up with another individual Mr. Skaggs in West Virginia and in one of the subjects out or the [14:54] defendants out in California, Mr. Roa, having gotten in a car planning to drive to pick up other members [15:01] of the conspiracy. But a lot of the communication obviously is laid out and the complaint and the [15:05] indictments was online through messaging apps and things of that that sort. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to [15:18] say how common plots are. I mean, there's I think the Internet chat groups, these encrypted applications [15:25] that people use to message each other make it more and more frequent. They sort of emboldened [15:32] people to come up with plans and do these plans because they think they're not going to be detected, [15:37] right? Hey, this is an encrypted app. I'm going to use that. The one I think really remarkable thing [15:43] about what we're able to do at the federal levels. We do have these conspiracy charges and attempt [15:49] charges and things of that nature. So when we get into an investigation like that, these are charges [15:53] that don't require the completion of these underlying crimes. And so when we can get onto a messaging [16:00] application and uncover some communications that reveal a potential plot, we have these tools [16:06] federally to be able to charge individuals. We don't have to make them take, you know, go all the way [16:11] things that we can do before we can hold them accountable and mitigate the threat. Yeah, I mean, [16:26] I think is laid out in our charging instruments. We've got communications that kind of started, [16:31] at least with respect to this type of plot in May. So a good month before before the events, [16:38] things started to seem to have crystallized sometime in the beginning of June in terms of focusing in on [16:43] the UFC Freedom 250 event. And certainly when you look at the communications, there were plans to do [16:50] something at that event. Drones, explosives, you know, there's firearms amassed, ammunition amassed, [16:56] body armor, plans to travel, right? So yeah, it might seem like a condensed timeline, but the intent [17:03] from the communications that we've revealed in our complaints and in our indictments show that these [17:09] folks were planning to to act in that within that time frame. You know, it's like peeling back the [17:21] layers of an onion sometimes and some of this stuff, right? So you have these chat rooms, [17:24] you have certain participants in the chat rooms and you're just trying to figure out who it is, [17:28] who these folks are. And so you have a bunch of monikers being used and you don't even know if it's [17:33] one person using the same moniker or multiple monikers and that sort of thing. So I think at the [17:39] beginning of the investigation, it wasn't clear how large it was going to turn out to be. And there [17:46] were a number of folks involved in these chat rooms or a number of different chat groups that were [17:52] compartmentalized and then different levels of participation in those chat groups, right? So [17:57] you have some people that may be lurking a little bit more and not really participating, [18:01] some people that were fully participating and then sort of anywhere in between in that spectrum. So [18:06] it wasn't clear how big it was going to turn out to be. And, you know, we've charged these eight [18:11] folks right now. But, you know, the investigation is going to continue until I think we feel and the [18:18] FBI feels and the Secret Service and our law enforcement partners feel like we've we've charged [18:23] everybody that we think needs to be charged in relation to this plot. I'm not going to say one way or [18:31] the other. I'll just say the investigation is continuing at this point. I'm not going to tell [18:34] you what I'm anticipating or not at this point. There's various, you know, through the complaints, [18:43] this person had this kind of leadership role or this kind of leadership role. Was there one point [18:47] person that was really the. Well, I think, you know, we've charged our first named indictment, [18:53] our first person named in the indictment is Alvarez. I think he's viewed the shepherd is viewed as [18:57] sort of a leader in this plot. That's the thing about conspiracies, and that's why conspiracies have [19:02] been made criminal conspiracies have been made illegal, right, is once you get a bunch of people [19:07] together and they start planning, you never know where the things go, right? And that leads back [19:10] into the point about social media. That's only not social media, but social messaging apps and [19:16] encrypted apps is that's only sort of amplified this. Why do we criminalize criminal conspiracies [19:22] is because when you get a group of people planning to do illegal acts, this that's viewed as just as [19:29] serious as actually completing that illegal act, right? So I think when you look at these chats, you see [19:33] a lot of involvement from a lot of people and, you know, maybe it's different levels and you might [19:37] be able to characterize one person as more of a leader and this person was in charge of, [19:41] you know, looking at drones and things of that nature. But the folks that we've charged, [19:46] we believe we're all, you know, conspire conspirators. They agreed to commit a an illegal act and they were [19:54] taking over to acts and further into that conspiracy. I would say it's it was achieved. It depends on what you [20:11] mean by achieve it. But, you know, at the end of the day, I think we have evidence and we've laid [20:15] it out in the complaints and in the indictment that these folks had amassed ammunition, had amassed [20:19] weapons. We're looking at 3D printers for drones and had travel plans to go to DC. So what would have [20:25] happened or could have happened? You know, that's never going to be clear because thank God there was [20:30] an intervention here and this thing was disrupted. But in my view, when I look at what's been alleged [20:35] there, it seems pretty likely that someone was going to someone or multiple people were driving to [20:42] Washington, D.C. to do something. Yeah, there's always a concern for homegrown. We see that quite a bit. I [20:55] think, you know, I don't know if Jason wants to talk about this, but in my work and in my in the past as a [21:01] prosecutor with the JTTF, you know, homegrown, we're just as concerned with homegrown as we are with some, you know, an attack [21:09] coming from someone overseas, obviously. Right. And again, going back to the social media and the [21:14] social messaging part of this and chat rooms and that seems to be an incubator for a lot of these [21:20] ideas. People will get in an echo chamber. They get together with like-minded individuals and then [21:26] they start concocting things. So we're always concerned with that. That's a major domestic [21:30] terrorism, international terrorism, all sorts of terrorism are we're focused on, but we're always [21:35] concerned about homegrown, homegrown extremists. After they lost touch, according to what's in the [21:43] complaint, after they lost touch with Mr. Kroker, he was trying to find another way to get to D.C. [21:49] Right. What does that say to you about how determined they were to execute? Yeah, I think it says a lot [21:53] about that. I mean, I think it goes back to my point is this wasn't a, hey, you know, pie in the sky [22:00] type of thing. This isn't just people talking on messaging apps. These are people that were determined. [22:05] Again, we had Mr. Rowe get into a car in California to drive and, you know, his car broke down, [22:12] but he was on his way. Skaggs, yeah, to your point, you know, when Proper kind of dropped off [22:17] because the cops had been called and he reported that, Skaggs was asking about how, who else is [22:25] going to come to pick me up so we can get out to D.C. So it goes back to the point of like, how likely [22:30] was this? You know, I think all those points lead to that conclusion. I'll say this. I think the FBI, [22:45] Secret Service, all our partners are doing a comprehensive investigation. And so I think it [22:51] would be obviously irresponsible of us as federal law enforcement to not look at every single person [22:57] that was, you know, potentially involved here or in these, in these chat rooms or chat groups. [23:16] Yeah, so we have two folks that are being held here in this district right now. [23:21] We have everybody's detained. And so the other six are detained, but they're detained in other [23:28] districts. Other districts. Two of those six are detained on our charges here. The other four are [23:34] detained, were detained on complaints that were filed in those districts. And we expect them to be to [23:40] appear on our indictments and then eventually to be transported here to the Southerners of Ohio to [23:45] appear and to face these charges. Thank you. And there you have it. There's an update from the DOJ [23:59] speaking on eight people now indicted after that planned sniper attack at the White House Freedom 250 [24:06] UFC event. I do just want to quickly recap for you what we just heard, what we just learned. [24:12] Eight people now face terrorism charges related to a thwarted alleged plot to kill government [24:18] officials and high profile figures, including President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, [24:24] and Elon Musk at the UFC Freedom 250 event.