The UFC match plot: how a far-right group tried to assassinate Trump at his own event

When Tycen Proper, 19, finished high school, his family gave him at least $3,000 of “graduation money”, according to court documents. Despite the generosity, he seemed content to just live at his parents’ home, in a tiny Ohio town near Amish country, and spend more and more time on the internet. But Proper did have ambition of a kind, an affidavit says . He quit his job to focus on a special project that he was planning with friends from the internet. His mother saw him studying maps of Washington DC. He also put his graduation money into investments that made his father uneasy: a rifle, a shotgun, body armor, ammunition. His parents eventually told police that they were scared of what their son was hatching. They were right to be. Almost two weeks ago, the US Department of Justice announced that it had foiled a plot by Proper and a number of co-conspirators to assassinate Donald Trump and other elected officials at the Ultimate Fighting Championship event recently held at the White House. As of Friday, eight people from around the country are in custody. All appear to be men in their 20s or early 30s. Yet at least 19 people were involved with the plot, investigators have said. Many in the group met through TikTok. After verifying each other’s identities and ideological commitment, they migrated to closed groups on the encrypted messaging apps Signal and SimpleX, where they sorted themselves into “tiers” of risk tolerance. Some met in person for tactical training. …