The FBI didn’t dispute frustrations over the rollout, but instead said there had been a collaborative law enforcement effort over the case.
“The FBI and U.S. Secret Service are proud of our strong working relationship. This investigation highlights that continuous partnership and could not have happened without the great work and coordination between our two agencies,” the statement read. “This weekend’s thwarted attack should be a message to any criminal actor that if you target Americans, you will be found and brought to justice.”
Patel took to social media early Tuesday to announce that “multiple individuals” were in custody.
His first post on X at 6:50 a.m. ET included a screenshot of a Fox News story. He replied to that post seven minutes later with a link to the story, which had scant details about the suspected plot besides Patel’s own statement to the outlet. He also posted about it on Truth Social, Trump’s social media website; Patel had been on Truth Social’s board.
The U.S. Secret Service, which investigates threats to the president, made its frustrations known.
“I’ll tell you, the Secret Service led that investigation from the beginning. I’ll tell you that it’s ongoing,” Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn said at an unrelated news conference when asked about the post. “In order to maintain the integrity of the investigation and the security plan, we chose not to leak it.”
Quinn also recalled a phrase he learned early in his career, when he was in the Secret Service’s New York field office: “Don’t choke on your own smoke.”
Secret Service Director Sean Curran’s statement hit a similar note, highlighting the importance of not making statements that could jeopardize cases down the line. “Equally important to our protective mission is ensuring accountability through the justice system,” Curran said. “To that end, our formal comments regarding the specifics of this case will be made through court filings.”
The investigation originated not with federal law enforcement, but with a mother’s call to local law enforcement that she was concerned about her son’s behavior, court documents show. The Knox County Sheriff’s Office and Danville Police Department in Ohio went to the home of 19-year-old Tycen Proper on June 10. He was taken into custody at a mental health center, according to federal authorities. Family members told authorities that Proper had made “sympathetic comments about Adolf Hitler” and posted “anti-Semitic comments on Facebook” in recent months, court documents said.
He was interviewed by the FBI, where he gave up details of the chat, according to federal officials.
By Friday, another suspect from West Virginia told the FBI that group members had canceled their attack plans that morning, officials said.
An FBI task force officer swore out a criminal complaint against Proper on Friday, but the case remained under seal as the investigation unfolded. A federal prosecutor asked a federal magistrate judge to keep the case under seal on Monday, which the magistrate judge agreed to do. The case was eventually unsealed on Tuesday, after Patel’s social media announcement.
By the end of the day Tuesday, five defendants were in custody and facing federal charges: Proper; 24-year-old Bryan Omar Roa; 32-year-old Michael Alan Thomas; 32-year-old Daniel Eskridge; and 31-year-old Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez.
Proper’s attorney didn’t respond to a request for comment, and neither did attorneys for Eskridge and Alvarez. It wasn’t yet clear who was representing Thomas and Roa.