Missouri man sentenced in attempted White House attack with U-Haul truck

A Missouri man faces nearly a decade in prison after attempting a 2023 attack on the White House with a rented truck.

Sai Varshith Kandola, 20, of St. Louis, was sentenced Jan. 16 in U.S. District Court to eight years in federal prison for the May 22, 2023, attempted attack on the White House with a rented U-Haul truck.

A statement issued by the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., said the attack “aimed to overthrow the democratically elected government of the United States in order to replace it with a dictatorship fueled by Nazi ideology.”

Charges against driver of U-HAUL truck that crashed near the White House

Kandola pleaded guilty on May 13, 2024, to a charge of willful injury or deprecation of property of the United States before U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich. In addition to the prison sentence, Friedrich Kandola was ordered to serve three years of supervised release.

Kandola is an Indian citizen, according to authorities. At the time of the accident, he was a legal permanent resident of the United States and held a green card.

According to court documents, Kandola flew on a commercial flight from St. Louis to Washington, D.C., on May 22, 2023, arriving via another airport on a one-way ticket.

The White House in Washington, D.C (Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Kandola arrived at Dulles International Airport shortly before 5:30 p.m., rented a truck at 6:30 p.m. and drove to Washington, D.C., where he crashed into the barriers protecting the White House and the President’s Garden.

The accident occurred shortly after 9:30 p.m. at the intersection of H Street NW and 16th Street NW.

He was driving on the sidewalk, causing pedestrians to run away, according to authorities. After colliding with the barriers, the truck rolled backwards, then moved forward, colliding with the metal barriers again.

The second collision disabled the truck, which began smoking from the engine compartment and leaking fluids, officials said. He got out, went to the back of the truck, pulled out a large red and white flag with a swastika in the middle, and began waving it.

Officials say a U-HAUL truck crashes into barricades near the White House and is suspected of being detained

U.S. Park Police and Secret Service officers arrested Kandola, according to the district attorney’s office.

At the time of the incident, he was trying to gain access to the White House to seize political power, according to the plea agreement.

“Kandola’s intention was to replace the democratically elected government with a dictatorship he fueled [the] Nazi Germany’s ideology and his assumption of responsibility for the United States.”

Kandola was arrested by US Park Police and Secret Service officers. (Istock)

Kandola planned the attack for several weeks, according to authorities. Before he rented the truck and crashed it inside the White House, he made several attempts to gain access to vehicles or armed security guards.

On April 22, 2023, Kandola unsuccessfully requested 25 armed guards and an armored convoy from a security company in Virginia, according to the US Attorney’s Office. Weeks later, on May 4, 2023, he tried contacting several other companies to try to rent a large commercial trailer truck, dump truck or other large truck.

“Kandola attempted to arrange the services of these security guards and use large vehicles to carry out his crime against the US government,” the officials said. “His actions were calculated to influence or influence government behavior by intimidation or coercion.”

Kandola told investigators that he was going to arrange the killing of former President Joe Biden. (Associated Press, file)

The authorities indicated that he admitted to investigators that he would arrange to kill former President Joe Biden and others, if necessary, to achieve his goal.

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The accident caused $4,322 in damage to the National Park Service, according to prosecutors. The total cost included repairing the metal barriers and restoring them to their original condition, ensuring structural integrity, removing oils and chemicals, cleaning up spills, and disposing of liquids from the wrecked U-Haul vehicle.

The case was investigated by the Secret Service, the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the U.S. Park Police and the Metropolitan Police Department in the District of Columbia.