(NewsNation) — The alleged terror plot against Sunday’s UFC event at the White House is hard to pin down, but “accelerationists” were likely trying to spark a broad revolution across the political spectrum, a security expert says.
Authorities say members of the home-grown group harbored a range of conspiracy theories as they discussed sending drones with bombs to the cage-fight spectacle and shooting audience members who fled. The plotters’ anti-government grievances reportedly included antisemitic views and complaints that the Epstein files were mishandled.
“They were looking to find targets that would appeal to both people in Democratic and Republican circles so that they could rally the most people to their cause,” former Secret Service agent Paul Eckloff told “CUOMO” on Tuesday.
UFC fight at White House will ‘never happen again’: Dana White
He said the goal was to trigger an upheaval — the hallmark of “accelerationism.”
“Accelerationism has existed for decades,” Eckloff said. “It’s people that believe society is irredeemable, whether it’s capitalism, whether it’s other things, and they believe if they accelerate the end of it, it can be reborn, it can be rebuilt in the image that they want.”
The UFC Freedom 250 fights take place on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14, 2026, in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump is hosting a series of Ulitmate Fight Championship matches on his 80th birthday, which the White House is calling “a once-in-a-generation celebration of the American fighting spirit.” (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin- Pool/Getty Images)
He said indications are the alleged plotters looked to rebuild in a “white supremacist’s view.”
“What worries me is not really the specific grievance, it’s how quickly we went from rhetoric to real-world action,” Eckloff said. “In this case it wasn’t years, it was a few weeks.”
It wasn’t clear how far the plot had developed before a family member of one of the suspects notified authorities.
“It didn’t even get close to the point of execution,” Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday evening on the Fox News Channel, describing the planning as “not that advanced.”
Five people from states including Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska and California were arrested on federal charges, the Justice Department said.
The Associated Press contribued to this report.
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