Indian national pleads guilty to attacking White House with rented truck

Sai Varshith Kandula pleads guilty to White House attack, aiming to seize power, sentenced on August 23.

An Indian national living in the United States as a permanent resident has pleaded guilty to attacking the White House with a rented truck with the intent to replace the democratically elected government with a dictatorship fuelled by the ideology of Nazi Germany, according to a U.S. attorney.

According to the plea agreement, Sai Varshith Kandula (20), of St. Louis, Missouri, crashed a rented truck into the White House perimeter, and he was attempting to gain access to the White House to seize political power.

U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich has scheduled his sentencing for August 23.

U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves on Monday said Mr. Kandula intended to replace the democratically elected government with a dictatorship fuelled by the ideology of Nazi Germany and for himself to be put in charge of the United States.

Mr. Kandula admitted to investigators that he would have arranged for the killing of the U.S. president and others if necessary to achieve his objective. His actions were calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, the Department of Justice said.

According to court documents, Mr. Kandula flew on a commercial flight from St. Louis, Missouri, to Washington DC in the afternoon of May 22, 2023, connecting through another airport on a one-way airline ticket. Mr. Kandula arrived at Dulles International Airport at about 5.20 p.m. and rented a truck at 6.30 p.m.

He stopped for food and gas and then drove to Washington DC, where he crashed into the barriers protecting the White House and President’s Park at 9.35 p.m. at the intersection of H. Street, Northwest, and 16th Street, Northwest.