On January 16, 2025, Indian American Sai Varshith Kandula was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison for attempting an attack on the White House with a rented truck on May 22, 2023.
Announcing the sentence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia stated that Kandula’s actions were aimed at overthrowing the democratically elected government of the United States to establish a “dictatorship fueled by Nazi ideology.”
According to a statement from US Attorney’s Office, Kandula, a 20-year-old resident of St. Louis, Missouri, pleaded guilty on May 13, 2024, to willfully injuring or damaging U.S. property before U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich. In addition to the prison term, Judge Friedrich ordered Kandula to serve three years of supervised release.
Born in Chandanagar, India, Kandula was a lawful permanent resident of the United States at the time of the incident.
“Kandula flew on a commercial flight from St. Louis, Missouri, to Washington D.C. on the afternoon of May 22, 2023, connecting through another airport on a one-way airline ticket. Kandula arrived at Dulles International Airport about 5:20 p.m., and rented a truck at 6:30 p.m,” added the statement. “It further noted that Kandula stopped for food and gas, and then drove to Washington, D.C., where he crashed into the barriers protecting White House and President’s Park at 9:35 p.m. at the intersection of H Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest.”
Kandula’s truck drove on the sidewalk, causing pedestrians to flee the scene. After striking the barriers, he reversed the truck and then rammed the barriers a second time. The second collision disabled the truck, which began smoking and leaking fluids. Kandula exited the vehicle, retrieved a red-and-white Nazi flag featuring a swastika from his backpack, and brandished it. He was promptly arrested at the scene by U.S. Park Police and Secret Service officers.
Court documents revealed that Kandula had been planning the attack for weeks. Before renting the truck, he attempted multiple times to acquire access to vehicles or armed security guards. On April 22, 2023, he requested 25 armed guards and an armored convoy from a Virginia-based security company. On May 4, 2023, he contacted other companies to rent a large commercial vehicle, such as a tractor-trailer, dump truck, or similar vehicle.
The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Special Agent in Charge William McCool of the U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Division, Chief Jessica M. Taylor of the U.S. Park Police, and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).