Indian-origin man accused of crashing truck near White House

He allegedly was praising Hitler, wanted to kill President Biden

WASHINGTON: A 19-yearold Indian-origin man accused of deliberately crashing a rented truck into a White House barrier has praised Adolf Hitler to investigators and said that he aimed to “kill” President Joe Biden if necessary to seize power, media reports said on Wednesday.

Sai Varshith Kandula, of Chesterfield, Missouri, rented the U-Haul truck on Monday night immediately after flying from St. Louis to Dulles International Airport on a one-way ticket, a Secret Service agent said in a statement of facts filed in federal district court in Washington D.C., NBC News reported.

US Park Police arrested Kandula after he crashed the rented truck into the security barriers on the north side of Lafayette Park shortly before 10 pm on Monday, sending multiple pedestrians running from the scene.

The crash was a good distance from the White House gates, but the incident prompted road and sidewalk closures, and the nearby HayAdams hotel had to be evacuated. No one was injured in the crash.

He drove the vehicle onto a sidewalk outside the White House and into a metal barrier just north of the White House, according to the document.

Kandula put the truck in reverse and crashed into the barrier a second time before United States Park Police officers took him into custody, according to the document.

Kandula told authorities he had been planning the attack for six months and detailed the plans in a “green book,” the document says.

He “stated his goal was to ‘get into the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation,’” the document states. “When agents asked how he would seize power, Kandula stated he would ‘kill the President if that’s what I have to do and would hurt anyone that would stand in my way.’” The document was included with a criminal complaint charging Kandula with depredation of property of the United States over USD 1,000, the NBC News report said.