WASHINGTON – A 19-year-old man who is facing multiple charges after crashing a box truck into security barriers near the White House on Monday night told the authorities he would kill the President and expressed a personal admiration for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
The man, identified as Sai Varshith Kandula, of Chesterfield, Missouri, said he had been planning this operation for six months, according to an affidavit filed on Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
Kandula told investigators his goal was to “get to the White House, seize power and be put in charge of the nation”.
Asked how he would seize power, Kandula said he would “kill the President, if that’s what I have to do”, adding that he would “hurt anyone in my way”.
No weapons or ammunition were found in the truck, and no one was hurt as a result of the incident, officials said.
The Secret Service charged Kandula with “depredation of property of the United States in excess of US$1,000 (S$1,300)“, according to the criminal complaint.
Earlier on Tuesday, the US Park Police said Kandula was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, threatening to kill or kidnap or harm a president, vice-president or family member, the destruction of federal property and trespassing.
The government is expected to file additional charges in the coming days.
According to the affidavit, Kandula purchased a one-way ticket and flew from St Louis to Dulles International Airport, arriving at 8pm on Monday (8am Tuesday Singapore time).
He rented a U-Haul truck near the airport and drove directly to the White House.
Around 9.35pm, the affidavit said, Kandula drove onto a sidewalk near Lafayette Square, a leafy park in front of the White House and into metal security barriers.
He then put the truck in reverse and drove into the barriers again.
As smoke rose from the vehicle and liquid dripped underneath, Kandula exited the truck, went to the back and removed a flag with a Nazi swastika.
He later told the authorities that he admired the Nazis’ “great history”, specifically their “authoritarian nature, eugenics and their one world order”.
He said he looked up to Hitler “because he was a strong leader”. He said he purchased the flag online.
Ms Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said that President Joe Biden had been briefed about the incident on Tuesday.
“He was briefed this morning,” Ms Jean-Pierre said, adding that “the President was here yesterday working, so of course he was here last night” when the incident occurred.
Chesterfield, where Kandula is from, is a suburb west of St Louis.
According to the Rockwood School District, Kandula graduated from Marquette Senior High School in 2022.
While he was there, he was involved in the student council during his sophomore year and the boy’s tennis team during his sophomore and junior years, the school district’s spokesman Mary LaPak said.
The Chesterfield Police Department said it has no record of interaction with Kandula, according to an official there.
Police officials have fortified the White House in recent years in response to instances of people breaching the complex.
The Secret Service began upgrading the White House perimeter fences in 2022, doubling their height to about 4m. A toddler breached that fence in April after squeezing through the bars on the north side of the complex.
There have been at least two deadly incidents of vehicles crashing into barricades near Capitol Hill in the past two years.
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