Sacramento man indicted on charges of plotting to kill or kidnap Biden, Harris, Fauci

Sam Stanton
·3 min read

A federal grand jury in Iowa has indicted a Sacramento man on charges of attempting to kill or kidnap President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci as part of a bizarre cross-country plot that his lawyer has said may stem from mental illness.

Kuachua Brillion Xiong, 25, a former Merced grocery clerk who lived in Sacramento, faces a five-count indictment unsealed and filed in court Wednesday that also charges him with making threats against Biden and Harris as well as former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

He also is charged with attempting to kill or kidnap Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky; U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California and Republican U.S. Sen Mitt Romney of Utah.

Xiong also is charged with possession of a Black Rain Ordnance AR-15 rifle and ammunition “in furtherance of a crime of violence.”

Xiong was arrested Dec. 21 as he was driving from California to Washington, D.C., and stopped for speeding on Interstate 80 in Cass County, Iowa, where a sheriff’s deputy called Secret Service agents after speaking with Xiong and seeing that his GPS device was directing him toward the White House, court papers say.

Court papers say he had an AR-15, body armor, ammunition and magazines in his car and that he made comments about his desire to “combat evil demons in the White House” and his “disapproval for government due to the sex abuse of children.”

He also said he planned to scale the White House fence with a grappling hook and would “kill President Joseph Biden unless he promised to comply to Xiong’s demands,” court papers say.

He was originally charged in a criminal complaint and ordered held pending the outcome of his case. His court-appointed federal defender subsequently filed notice of his “intent to reply upon an insanity defense at the time of any trial in this matter.”

Fauci referred to the alleged plot during a Jan. 11 Senate hearing where he sparred with Republican senators over his advice to the White House about the COVID-19 pandemic, telling Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, that accusations against him have led to continued threats.

“What happens when he gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue is that all of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there, and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls, because people are lying about me,” Fauci said.

He noted that Xiong’s arrest was one of the latest threats.

“The police asked him where he was going and he was going to Washington, D.C., to kill Dr. Fauci,” he said. “They found in his car, an AR-15 and multiple magazines of ammunition because he thinks that maybe I’m killing people.”

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