A driver crashed a gray sport utility vehicle with a Virginia license plate into one of the exterior gates near the White House around 6 p.m. Monday, January 8. The driver was taken into custody according to Secret Service. The agency says it is still conducting an investigation into whether or not the crash was intentional.
“We can definitively say that there’s no risk to the complex or the adjacent neighborhood, and the investigation into his motivations continue,” Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for the Secret Service, said in a statement. President Biden was not at the White House during the occurence.
The car stopped before a security checkpoint at the perimeter of the White House complex. No damage was visible, but the photos did not show the front of the car.
The Washington fire department responded to the area and said the scene was cleared by 7pm. Guglielmi said on X (Twitter) shortly after 7:30 p.m. that the vehicle had been cleared by local police and that the streets around the White House that had been closed to traffic would be reopened.