Luigi Mangione to Assert Psychiatric Defense in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Killing

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Luigi Mangione to Assert Psychiatric Defense in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Killing

(Headline USA) Luigi Mangione plans to assert a psychiatric defense at his state murder trial, claiming he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance when he gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge said Wednesday. It wouldn’t absolve him of the Dec. 4, 2024, killing, but could free him from prison sooner.

If a jury accepts that defense, the panel would convict Mangione of manslaughter and he would face up to 25 years in prison. Alternatively, the jury could reject the extreme emotional disturbance defense and convict him of murder, which carries a potential life sentence. That defense isn’t available in his federal case.

Judge Gregory Carro announced the decision in court Wednesday, two weeks after holding a secret hearing on the matter at the defense’s request. He said he will unseal a transcript and other records from that proceeding once redactions are made.

Mangione’s lawyers first raised the possibility of a psychiatric defense in a sealed letter in September and confirmed the decision at the June 3 hearing, Carro said. They could still change their minds. Prosecutors want Mangione evaluated by a psychiatric expert.

“The reasons for the sealing was to give the defense an opportunity to determine whether they were going forth with that defense and the nature of that defense,” Carro said.

Carro said he didn’t expect the development to delay Mangione’s trial, which is scheduled to start Sept. 8. The federal trial, which involves stalking charges, is set to begin on Oct. 13.

Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

Sitting between his lawyers and wearing a blue suit, he tried to block his face with a large envelope as news photographers crowded near him at the start of Wednesday’s hearing. He didn’t appear to have any reaction as Carro spoke about the planned psychiatric defense.

At a February hearing, Mangione had railed against the prospect of two trials, telling Carro: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”

An emotional disturbance defense is not the same as a not guilty by reason of insanity defense, which would allow a defendant to go to a psychiatric facility instead of prison.

To establish an emotional disturbance defense, Mangione’s lawyers must demonstrate that the disturbance was so extreme it robbed him of self-control; that, in his mind, there was a reasonable explanation for the disturbance; and that it influenced him to kill Thompson.

Heather Cucolo, a New York Law School professor and expert in mental health law, said Mangione’s lawyers could try to accomplish that by having a psychologist testify about his mental state at the time of the killing and the extent of any trauma, abuse or emotional instability he’s suffered. But, she said, they aren’t required to show any proof of a mental illness or show he was in danger.

The circumstances of Mangione’s case could make it tough for his lawyers to convince jurors to accept a defense that people often associate with crimes of passion or a sudden outburst where someone is given shocking information that evokes a strong response, Cucolo said.

Prosecutors say Mangione planned the attack, wrote in a notebook about wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive and traveled from out of state to ambush Thompson, 50, as the CEO walked to a Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. “Delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, police said, mimicking a phrase describing how insurers avoid paying claims.

“People want to view this within a relatively short period of time and they want it to be simply laid out,” Cucolo said, giving the example of a spousal killing over infidelity. As time passes, she said, “people are not as willing to accept this emotional response that ends up in the death of a human being.”

Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, protested Carro’s decision to unseal materials related to his psychiatric defense, saying it will be “prejudicial to his defense to the exact same facts” in his federal case.

Last month, Carro ruled that the notebook and a 3D-printed pistol, which prosecutors say matches the gun used to kill Thompson, can be used as evidence against Mangione. But he said a loaded gun magazine and other items were seized during an “improper warrantless search” when he was arrested in Pennsylvania five days after the killing.

On Wednesday, Carro dismissed a charge related to the magazine.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Alleged Charlie Kirk Killer’s Lawyers Want to Cross-Examine Ex-Roommate at Preliminary Hearing

Ken Silva
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Alleged Charlie Kirk Killer’s Lawyers Want to Cross-Examine Ex-Roommate at Preliminary Hearing

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Lawyers for Tyler Robinson, the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk, want to cross-examine Robinson’s former roommate at his preliminary hearing next month.

The ex-roommate and purported lover, Lance Twiggs, is set to be a “central witness” against Robinson, due to the incriminating note that Robinson purportedly left Twiggs, as well as the text messages between them in which Robinson allegedly confessed to killing Kirk.

According to new court filings, Twiggs gave a statement to investigators just after Robinson turned himself in on Sept. 11. Twiggs told investigators that Robinson had admitted via electronic messages to him and others that he had killed Charlie Kirk.

On April 20, Twiggs gave a recorded statement under oath. He was given use-immunity by the United States Attorney’s Office and the Utah County Attorney’s Office—meaning that his statements at that April 20 meeting could not be used against him. The prosecutors added that Twiggs’s April 20 statement was consistent with what he said on Sept. 11.

Now, instead of having Twiggs take the stand at Robinson’s preliminary hearing, prosecutors simply want to play that April 20 statement. In a Tuesday court filing, prosecutors argued why the statement should suffice at this the early stage of the criminal proceedings—Robinson hasn’t even entered a plea yet.

“Defendant has not shown that Mr. Twiggs’s cross-examination would be material to the preliminary hearing,” prosecutors said in a Tuesday court filing. “Cross-examination at a preliminary hearing is material to the probable-cause standard only when that examination can demonstrate that the witness cannot be believed at all.”

The prosecutors further argued that the court “must view all evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution” at the preliminary hearing stage.

Therefore, “cross-examination is not necessary to test Mr. Twiggs’s reliability at the preliminary hearing. His testimony is already deemed reliable. Nor is his credibility at issue at the preliminary hearing. That is a question only the jury can resolve,” the lawyers concluded.

It’s unclear when Judge Tony Graf will rule on the matter. Robinson’s preliminary hearing is set to begin July 6.

Twiggs shared a $1,800-a-month townhouse with Robinson. Twiggs was 22 at the time of the shooting, and was quickly revealed to be a “wannabe professional gamer” who was reportedly considering a sex change.

Law enforcement has said Robinson may have been motivated by Kirk’s alleged “transphobia.”

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Trump Says MoU With Iran ‘Not Final,’ US May Go Back To ‘Dropping Bombs’ If Tehran ‘Doesn’t Behave

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Trump Says MoU With Iran ‘Not Final,’ US May Go Back To ‘Dropping Bombs’ If Tehran ‘Doesn’t Behave

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Washington and Tehran was “not final” and warned the United States could return to “dropping bombs” on Iran if the country “didn’t behave.”

“It’s a Memorandum of Understanding. If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, okay? Because they’ve misbehaved for 47 years,” the president told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit in 

The US and Iran are set to hold an official signing ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, after which negotiations on the nuclear issue and sanctions relief for Iran will begin for a 60-day period.

Trump said the deal is a “great deal for a lot of reasons” and appeared to suggest that what has been published in the media is not the actual text by saying that “nobody knows what it is,” though later, US officials released the full MoU text, and it was very similar to what was published in Al Arabiya a day earlier.

The president also denied that the MoU includes a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran, even though it was included in the text released by US officials.

“That’s false,” Trump said when asked about the fund. “People can invest if they want. I mean, what am I going to do — say nobody’s ever allowed to invest? We’re not investing. We’re not putting up ten cents. People can decide to do that, but that’s up to them… We do not have a fund.”

The president also acknowledged in his remarks that if the US continued the blockade on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz remained closed, it would cause a “worldwide depression.”

Iranian media reported on Wednesday that since the announcement of the MoU, 11 ships have been able to “break through the US blockade,” including eight that departed Iranian ports and three that arrived in Iran. The US military issued a notice to mariners on Monday, saying the blockade was still in place and advising ships not to cross the area “until explicit direction is given.”

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.  

 

Data Breach Unmasks Billionaire Secret Society

Jose Nino
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Data Breach Unmasks Billionaire Secret Society

(José Niño, Headline USA) Internal records from a shadowy organization that gathers America’s most influential figures in politics, finance, and technology sat exposed on the internet, Wired has confirmed.

The organization, called Dialog, operates as a private, invitation only network that Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech investor, co-founded in 2006. It assembles American officials, foreign dignitaries, and Silicon Valley power brokers at annual retreats conducted entirely off the record. The group has spent 20 years declining to reveal who belongs to it.

Swiss hacktivist maia arson crimew discovered the exposed directory. Crimew previously made headlines for revealing the U.S. government’s No Fly List and infiltrating the surveillance camera firm Verkada, as BleepingComputer and the BBC respectively reported. An anonymous source provided the tip, and Wired independently confirmed the contents.

A separate source gave Wired the registration roster for Dialog’s 2026 retreat, which identifies 222 individuals along with their membership status and attendee classification. The event is planned for August 12 through 16 near Dublin, Ireland.

The exposed materials paint a picture of remarkable concentrated influence. Wired identified General Alexus Grynkewich, who serves as NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe and leads U.S. European Command, on the list with attendance going back to 2021. The records also include current Trump administration officials, a pair of U.S. senators, half a dozen PayPal Mafia members, a former Middle East intelligence head, and an ambassador currently serving in Washington.

Corporate chieftains mingle with the very officials who oversee their business activities. Auren Hoffman chairs Dialog and previously established location data broker SafeGraph and identity resolution company LiveRamp. The directory places him alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who chairs the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

Joe Lonsdale, who co-founded Palantir and whose software powers case management at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and data operations across the Pentagon, appears in the same organization as Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., who ranks highest among Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee.

The documents reveal provocative panel topics such as “Navigating WWIII,” “Battlefield Technologies,” “Build-a-Cult,” and “How’s Your Sex Life?”

Dialog runs its own matchmaking operation. Registration forms inquire whether participants are “looking for love” and a dedicated platform at dating.dialog.org markets itself as offering “meaningful connections for exceptional people.” Forms collect sensitive responses including political orientation, which Dialog assured members “WILL NOT be shared in the app or with other participants, ever.” The breach exposed all of it.

Nobody named in the Wired investigation replied to comment requests.

The society has maintained an extremely low profile throughout its existence. Earlier retreats convened at the Ritz Carlton Dove Mountain in Arizona and the San Clemente Palace in Venice, Axios reported. Observers have drawn comparisons to Bilderberg, the famously secretive conclave of Western business and political leaders.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Oil Drops Below $80 per Barrel, While Tech Stocks Weigh on a Mixed Wall Street

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Oil Drops Below $80 per Barrel, While Tech Stocks Weigh on a Mixed Wall Street

(Headline USA) Oil prices sank again Tuesday and dropped below $80 per barrel for the first time since early March, while U.S. stocks drifted near their all-time highs in mixed trading.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.6% and pulled 1.3% below its record set earlier this month. The market was nearly evenly split between stocks rising and falling, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 328 points, or 0.6%, to set a record for the second straight day. But drops for some influential tech stocks pulled the Nasdaq composite down 1.2%.

Stocks that had benefited from the boom in artificial-intelligence technology weighed on the market in particular following vicious swings over the last couple weeks.

They’ve been leading the market up and down amid worries that their stock prices shot too high in the mania around AI. That’s taken a toll because chip companies, makers of computer memory and other AI winners have grown so massive that they’ve become some of Wall Street’s most influential stocks.

Drops of 2.4% for Nvidia, 4.4% for Broadcom and 6.2% for Micron Technology were the heaviest weights pulling the S&P 500 lower.

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment sank 6.2% after reporting a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, while Robinhood Markets fell 1.4% after the investing platform said that it’s laying off about 10% of its full-time employees.

On the winning side of Wall Street was SpaceX, which rose 4.8% for its third straight gain since its debut on the U.S. stock market. It said it’s moving forward with a purchase of Cursor, a popular AI coding assistant, valuing it at $60 billion.

Yum Brands climbed 1.9% after it said it’s selling the Pizza Hut chain for $2.7 billion. Most of the restaurants will go to LongRange Capital, a private equity firm. Those in mainland China will go to Yum China Holdings.

All told, the S&P 500 slipped 42.94 points to 7,511.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 328.64 to 51,999.67, and the Nasdaq composite fell 307.60 to 26,376.34.

The strongest action was in the oil market, where optimism continued that a tentative U.S.-Iran deal on their war will reopen the Strait of Hormuz at the end of the week and get the global flow of oil going again. The price for a barrel of Brent crude fell 5.1% to settle at $78.96.

Significant hurdles remain in the negotiations, including what to do with Iran’s nuclear program. But the hope on Wall Street is that this agreement will mean a long-term fix to a conflict that has worsened inflation around the world. The price of Brent has come down sharply from its $100-plus level of a few weeks ago, though it could still take months for the energy industry to get back to full speed.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a mixed performance in Asia.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 briefly topped 70,000 for the first time before ending with a modest gain of 0.1% after the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate to 1%. That’s its highest level in three decades, and it followed a similar move by the European Central Bank last week.

The Federal Reserve began its own meeting on what to do with interest rates Tuesday, with an announcement on the decision scheduled for Wednesday.

It’s the first meeting under the Fed’s new chair, Kevin Warsh, who was nominated by President Donald Trump. Trump has been pushing for lower interest rates, which would give the economy a boost but also threaten to worsen inflation. The widespread expectation, though, is that the Fed will leave its main interest rate alone again.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.43% from 4.47% late Monday and from 4.56% earlier this month.

High yields in bond markets worldwide caused by expensive oil prices have threatened to slow economies and undercut prices for all kinds of investments, including stocks and cryptocurrencies.

High yields have already sent mortgage rates higher, and a report on Tuesday said construction crews broke ground on far fewer new U.S. homes in May than economists expected.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

U.S. Department of Justice Investigates Newsom’s Associates

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U.S. Department of Justice Investigates Newsom’s Associates

(Liam Hibbert, The Center Square) The U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating people close to California Gov. Gavin Newsom over the past year for reasons that have not been fully disclosed, according to information obtained by The Center Square.

Newsom alleged that President Donald Trump had weaponized the DOJ to investigate him in an effort to thwart a potential 2028 presidential campaign.

For this story, The Center Square contacted the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House, which referred all questions to the DOJ. The Center Square went on to find multiple investigations into people close to Newsom.

A source familiar with the inquiries told The Center Square that the DOJ had several ongoing investigations related to Newsom. The source, who declined to give a name for publication, added that the investigations had started in 2025 and have been underway for roughly a year. The Center Square decided to use the anonymous source’s information because Newsom already said an investigation was happening and because there was no other way to independently confirm it.

“They’re being run through [the] U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of California, and they were triggered by local sources and whistleblowers in California,” the source said of the investigations.

“Not by the President, not by the main justice in D.C.,” the source said, answering The Center Square’s questions by email.

The source added that one of the investigations is related to the nonprofit “tax activities” of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Newsom’s wife. Another investigation is related to a former chief of staff for the governor and potentially some current staffers.

Siebel Newsom’s feminism-focused nonprofit work has previously been the subject of scrutiny by opponents, who have alleged Newsom has illegally used his office to support the work.

A report by the Sacramento Bee found the governor had solicited $4.8 million in donations since 2020 for the California Partners Project, of which Siebel Newsom is an unpaid co-founder. Reportedly $1.8 million came from a Native American tribe that runs a Sonoma County casino, which has lobbied for legislation in the past. California officials are required by law to disclose donations made to organizations at their request.

On Tuesday, Newsom posted on the social media site X a Freedom of Information Act request for any documents mentioning his name or Siebel Newsom since Jan. 20, 2025 – Trump’s Inauguration Day – within the DOJ. The request is in the form of a letter that David Sapp, Newsom’s legal affairs secretary, wrote to the Office of the Attorney General’s FOIA Request Center in Washington, D.C.

“Trump’s DOJ is on a fishing expedition for a crime that doesn’t exist,” Newsom posted, noting his office was demanding all communication, including emails, texts, memos and Signal messages that refer to him or his wife.

Newsom initially discussed being investigated during a video posted to his X social media account Monday afternoon.

“In recent days, federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” Newsom said. “Not because they found a crime – because they’re simply trying to find one.”

Newsom noted how Trump had called for his arrest last year.

“You can subpoena my records, you can investigate me, you can harass me, put my name on every and any enemies list you have,” said Newsom. “But leave my wife and family out of your personal vendetta.”

Congressional Investigators Visit Ghislaine Maxwell’s Prison Camp

Ken Silva
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Congressional Investigators Visit Ghislaine Maxwell’s Prison Camp

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Congressional investigators visited on Tuesday the minimum-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas, where convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred last July after giving an interview to the Justice Department about her accomplice, Jeffrey Epstein.

The visit was related to the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into why Maxwell was transferred to the prison camp. Critics have suggested that she was transferred because she told the DOJ that she never witnessed President Donald Trump commit any wrongdoing with Epstein.

But while the congressional investigators were allowed to tour the facility, they said prison officials refused to answer basic questions about Maxwell’s transfer.

“Bureau of Prisons leadership repeatedly shut down our lines of questioning or could not provide basic information about our central concerns, including Ms. Maxwell’s extraordinary treatment, allegations of sexual assault at the facility, and retaliation against inmates who tried to blow the whistle. We also have serious concerns about the accuracy and veracity of information received by our investigative staff,” Reps. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a joint statement.

“The American people are tired of seeing the Trump Administration pamper a sex trafficker and obstruct Congress’s investigation into Attorney General Blanche’s role in ensuring Ms. Maxwell remains comfortable and quiet.”

While in her new prison camp, Maxwell’s reportedly received highly preferential treatment.

According to Raskin, “Maxwell’s meals have been customized and prepared by federal prison camp staff and then personally delivered to her in her cell by longtime federal employees.”

“An inmate who trains puppies to become service dogs was instructed to provide one to Maxwell for a time so she could play with the puppy, even though neither inmates nor staff are ordinarily allowed to pet the service dogs in training,” Raskin added.

“When Ms. Maxwell wanted to go to the prison exercise area, she was personally escorted there after hours by prison guards so she could work out by herself and was allowed to enjoy recreation time in staff-only areas.”

According to Raskin, the preferential treatment is so bad that one Bryan prison official has complained that he is “sick of having to be Maxwell’s bitch.”

On Meet the Press last December, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Maxwell was moved due to the death threats she had been receiving at the low-security prison where she was previously incarcerated.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

FBI Director Allegedly Has a ‘Slush Fund’ to Pay Agents Loyal to Him

Ken Silva
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FBI Director Allegedly Has a ‘Slush Fund’ to Pay Agents Loyal to Him

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee say that FBI Director Kashyap Patel has been using part of the bureau’s budget as a “slush fund” to pay bonuses to agents loyal to him.

House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., wrote a letter to Patel on Monday, announcing that his committee is investigating the allegations.

“Your office has issued more than $1 million in awards to special agents serving on your ‘Director’s Advisory Team’—a curated group of agents who are willing to carry out your unlawful partisan and personal orders—and special agents on your security detail, circumventing the mandatory maximum pay caps established by statute,” Raskin said.

“In some cases, nearly $8,000 payments have been made to multiple individuals every two-week pay period despite many of the beneficiaries of your selective generosity already maxing out on a federal employee’s salary.”

Raskin said he doesn’t know how much money each agent has received. But he said that “numerous” loyalists to Patel have gotten bonuses amounting to $40,000 apiece in total.

“We can also confirm you have depleted the FBI reserve accounts for bonus payments at such a frenzied rate that some of the payments have bounced back from exhausted accounts,” Raskin added.

Raskin further suggested that some of the agents receiving bonuses are aware of Patel’s “inebriation and accompanying professional negligence and misconduct.” The congressman was referring to reports that Patel’s drinking habits are negatively affecting his performance.

Raskin demanded internal records about the bonus payments, including communications, payments, a list of agents on his advisory team, and other documents. He demanded those records by June 29.

In response to Raskin’s letter, the FBI said on Twitter/X that the allegations are “fake news!”

Patel is also suing The Atlantic over its reporting on his purported drinking habits, while his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, has an open lawsuit against MS Now and two of its reporters for a story claiming that the bureau had agents escort one of her inebriated friends home after a night of partying in Nashville.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Feds Name Five Individuals Charged in UFC Terror Plot

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Feds Name Five Individuals Charged in UFC Terror Plot

(, The Center Square) Federal court records made public Tuesday reveal the identities of five individuals in the alleged terror plot to disrupt the Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House over the weekend.

The suspects in custody are 19-year-old Tycen Proper from central Ohio; Bryan Omar Roa and Michael Alan Thomas from central California; Daniel Eskridge from Missouri; and Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez from Omaha, Nebraska.

The group was part of a larger Signal chat with at least 23 users across the country discussing plans for the attack, authorities allege.

Their plan, which the FBI said it learned of on June 10, involved using drones with attached explosives to hit buildings near the event, prompting a mass evacuation that would steer crowds toward a group of snipers.

Screenshots from a phone show maps and messages discussing alleged attack plans near the White House.
Screenshots from a phone included in a federal court filing show maps, aerial imagery and messages allegedly exchanged by suspects discussing sniper positions and drone launch locations in and around Washington, D.C., including near the White House.  Photo: Screenshot via U.S. Department of Justice court filing / United States Government Work

Affidavits filed by federal agents who questioned the suspects noted that the murder plot “appears to have been motivated by their anti-government ideology,” with the conspirators mentioning hating “billionaires” and “capitalist elites.”

Proper, who authorities allege admitted to being a “team leader” in the operation, had singled out specific politicians as targets due to their support of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Five of the politicians he named are Republicans from West Virginia, including U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice, U.S. Reps. Riley Moore and Carol Miller, and State Delegate Tristan Leavitt.

U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., were also targeted by the group.

“It is incredibly chilling that this suspect named me as a potential target along with other lawmakers,” Blackburn posted on social media Tuesday. “I will not let maniacs like this one deter me from celebrating or serving this great nation, and I am grateful to law enforcement for keeping us safe.”

All five terror plot suspects could face lifetime imprisonment if convicted.

Eskridge, Roa, Thomas, and Alvarez have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, the latter additionally being charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.

Proper is charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, attempted murder of any officer or employee of the United States, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and receipt or transfer of a firearm used to commit a felony.

According to the suspects’ cell data and online activity, as well as testimony from Proper, the group began communicating with one another sometime around March via a TikTok group named “Vanguard of the Old,” court records allege.

The “more serious members” of the TikTok group, including all five suspects, later switched to a Signal chat where they allegedly began planning the attack, according to the records.

Based on TikTok and cell data obtained by the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Targeting Unit, federal officials believe Alvarez to be the alleged ringleader of the group, going by the online username “Shepherd.”

Proper and Thomas each admitted to helping plan the attack when questioned individually by law enforcement, court documents show.

Eskridge’s spouse told law enforcement that he had “told her that he was a recruiter for the group” and had “purchased a large amount of tactical equipment over the past few months,” per court documents.

Tactical gear and protective equipment recovered during an FBI search are displayed indoors.
Tactical gear recovered by the FBI during a June 13 search of the residence of suspect Brandon Eskridge is displayed in a photo included in a U.S. Department of Justice filing related to an alleged plot targeting a UFC event at the White House. Screenshot / U.S. Department of Justice press release / United States Government Work

Roa admitted that he attempted to travel to Washington, D.C., to protest the UFC fight, but denied any involvement in the conspiracy.

Among other evidence, searches by law enforcement discovered ammunition, firearms, and other weaponry in Roa’s vehicle and in the respective residences of Proper, Eskridge, and Thomas.

Seized firearm and tactical gear shown in images from a federal court filing.
Images included in a federal court filing show equipment seized by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office from Tycen Proper, one of five suspects charged in an alleged plot targeting a UFC event at the White House. Photo: Screenshot / Knox County Sheriff’s Office via U.S. Department of Justice court filing / United States Government Work

All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty.

Senate Fails To Advance Iran War Powers Resolution

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Senate Fails To Advance Iran War Powers Resolution

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The Senate on Tuesday failed to advance a War Powers Resolution that would direct President Trump to end hostilities against Iran that haven’t been authorized by Congress and prevent the president from restarting the full-scale war against the Islamic Republic.

A motion to discharge the resolution out of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee failed on a 47-48 vote, with four Republicans joining most Democrats in supporting the bill. Sen. Jon Fetterman (PA) was the only Democrat to oppose the effort, and he also voted against all eight previous efforts to advance the legislation.

The Republicans who voted in favor of the bill include Senators Rand Paul (KY), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Susan Collins (ME), and Bill Cassidy (LA), who all voted in support of a previous procedural step to advance a War Powers Resolution, which passed the Senate in a vote of 50-47.

In both votes, if all senators had been present, it would likely have been a 50-50 tie, which could have been broken by Vice President JD Vance, who previously cast a tie-breaking vote to kill a Venezuela War Powers Resolution.

The War Powers Resolution that failed in the Senate on Tuesday was a joint resolution, meaning it could be vetoed by President Trump. But a War Powers Resolution that has passed the House is a concurrent resolution, which cannot be vetoed, and is the specific type of legislation Congress is meant to use under the 1973 War Powers Act to reassert the Constitution, which gives Congress, not the Executive, the authority to declare war.

Section 5(c) of the 1973 War Powers Act states that “at any time that United States Armed Forces are engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United States, its possessions and territories without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall be removed by the President if the Congress so directs by concurrent resolution.”

It’s unclear when the Senate might take up the House’s concurrent resolution, as the US and Iran announced they had reached a Memorandum of Understanding to end the conflict, which will be formally signed on Friday, though it’s unclear whether the agreement will hold.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

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