An Iraq War veteran pleaded guilty on Friday to charges of running into the White House armed with a knife before being tackled, a security breach that helped lead to a shake-up in the U.S. Secret Service.
Omar Gonzalez was charged with climbing over the White House fence on Sept. 19 and racing across the north lawn. He burst through the front door and reached as far as the executive mansion’s East Room before Secret Service agents subdued him.
“Are you guilty?” U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer asked Gonzalez, who was dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit.
“Yes, yes, your honor,” said Gonzalez, formerly of Copperas Cove, Texas. He gave his age as 43, though prosecutors had said he was 42.
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