Sai Varshith Kandula, a 20-year-old Indian national, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for an attempted attack on the White House.
The attack carried out on May 22, 2023, was part of a plan to overthrow the US government and establish a dictatorship inspired by Nazi ideology, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Kandula, a lawful U.S. permanent resident born in Chandanagar, India, pleaded guilty on May 13, 2024, to a charge of willful injury or depredation of US property. In addition to his prison sentence, Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ordered Kandula to serve three years of supervised release.
Court documents reveal that Kandula flew from St. Louis, Missouri, to Washington, D.C., on a one-way ticket on May 22, 2023. After arriving at Dulles International Airport, he rented a U-Haul truck around 6:30 PM.
That evening, Kandula drove the truck to Lafayette Square near the White House and rammed it into metal barriers at 9:35 PM, sending pedestrians scrambling for safety.
After the initial impact, Kandula reversed the truck and struck the barriers a second time, which disabled the vehicle. The U-Haul began smoking and leaking fluids after the collision. Kandula exited the vehicle, retrieved a red-and-white Nazi flag from his backpack, and brandished it near the crash site.
Law enforcement officers, including U.S. Park Police and the U.S. Secret Service, quickly apprehended Kandula. Investigators later discovered his intention to gain access to the White House and seize political power.
According to the DOJ, Kandula admitted his goal was to overthrow the democratically elected U.S. government and install a dictatorship inspired by Nazi Germany with himself at the helm.
“Kandula’s intent was to replace the democratically elected government with a dictatorship fueled by ideology of Nazi Germany and for himself to be put in charge of the United States. 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 DOJ stated.
The attack caused $4,322 in damages to the National Park Service, which included repairing the barriers, cleaning up chemical spills, and disposing of fluids from the damaged truck.
Kandula had meticulously planned the attack for weeks, making repeated attempts to acquire large vehicles and armed security guards. In April 2023, he sought 25 armed guards and an armored convoy from a security company in Virginia.
Later in May, he contacted other companies to rent large vehicles, such as commercial trucks and dump trucks but was unsuccessful.
