A federal grand jury in Columbus, Ohio, has indicted eight men for plotting a large-scale attack on a mixed martial arts event on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14, during President Donald Trump's 80th birthday celebration, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

In a statement on Thursday, July 9, the department described the plan as "one of the most serious internal security threats" aimed at assassinating political leaders and prominent world figures on U.S. soil.

Federal investigations indicate that the group, whose members range in age from 19 to 32, has drawn up a list of assassinations that includes US President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, government officials, members of Congress from the current administration, international figures and businessmen, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who later did not attend the event) and billionaire Elon Musk.

Investigations confirmed that the group intended to exploit the presence of prominent political and economic figures for the UFC Freedom 250 fight to carry out a double attack aimed at causing the greatest amount of human casualties.

A two-stage offensive tactic

Court documents showed that the plan relied on a complex offensive strategy, in which booby-trapped drones would be launched to strike the northern side of the White House and cause chaos and panic among the crowds, and then set up a sniper ambush at a predetermined evacuation exit to target politicians and figures fleeing the scene of the event.

The investigations indicated that the group conducted field exercises, identified sniper positions, and coordinated weapons purchases through encrypted applications.

Trump attended the event, which did not witness any incident coinciding with his 80th birthday, along with a number of Republican lawmakers, donors and US administration officials to celebrate the 250th anniversary of US independence, while Netanyahu did not attend.

How did the scheme uncover?

The threads of the case began four days before the event, when the mother of the youngest defendant called the police to report her son's possession of firearms and suspicious conversations online.

According to investigations, the group used encrypted apps such as Signal ,SimpleX , Discord, TikTok and Instagram to coordinate movements and distribute roles, including appointing one of the defendants as a master sniper.

The court charged the group with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists (punishable by up to 15 years), conspiracy to commit murder on federal soil, and murder of a government official (punishable by up to life in prison).

The U.S. Department of Justice described the case as one of the most serious internal security issues in recent years, given the nature of the targets and the scale of the planning.