Court records show that the man from Missouri was given eight years in jail Thursday for driving a rented U-Haul into the security barriers near the White House in 2023.
In late May 2023, Sai Varshith Kandula slammed the hired truck around Lafayette Square, which is close to the White House. Prosecutors say he got out of the car and pulled out a red-and-white flag with a Nazi swastika on it before the officer jumped in.
The government said Kandula wants to “destroy” the U.S. government.
“The attack on the White House was planned, with the knowledge that the President would be killed in the process.” The government wrote that Kandula “specifically praised Adolf Hitler” and said, “He wanted to get rid of democracy in America and replace the government with a Nazi-style dictatorship.”
Kandula was given an eight-year prison term by District Judge Dabney Friedrich. He was also given three years of supervised release and told to pay $57,000 in restitution and a $100 special assessment.
Attorney Scott Rosenblum, who is Kandula’s defense lawyer, wrote that his client has schizophrenia and that two different doctors have told him that.
“Neither expert gave a date for the start.” Rosenblum wrote, “But both think the first symptoms showed up when Sai was in early to middle high school.” “They both also think that his illness directly caused his crime.”
He spent months making plans for the attack. Authorities say he took a commercial trip from St. Louis, Missouri, to Washington, D.C., on May 22, the same day of the incident, which took place at 9:35 p.m. local time. The National Park Service lost $4,322 because of the damage done to the rental truck in Virginia.
At the time, police said they did not find any weapons or explosives on the suspect and that the subject was not hurt.
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