A North Dakota man pleaded guilty on Friday to planning to flip President Trump’s limo with a stolen forklift.
The incident occurred in September, when Trump visited the state to give a speech at an oil refinery in Mandan, just outside Bismarck.
Gregory Lee Leingang, 42, stole a forklift and drove it onto the presidential motorcade route.
Court documents seen by BuzzFeed News said Leingang attempted to use the forklift as a “deadly and dangerous weapon.”
“The intent was to basically try to get to the limo, flip the limo, and get to the president, and he wanted to kill the president,” US Assistant State’s Attorney Brandi Sasse Russell told the Grand Forks Herald.
Leingang fled after the forklift got stuck in an area that was gated off, but he was caught by police and later confessed his plan, Sasse Russell said.
Michelle Monteiro, Leingang’s public defender, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
However, the Herald reported she said in court that “he was suffering a serious psychiatric crisis during this incident.”
North Dakota man pleads guilty to taking forklift, planning to 'flip' president's limo https://t.co/BMeEPd2TZC
Leingang previously pleaded guilty to setting two fires — one at a Bismarck Municipal Ballpark maintenance shop and the other at the state parole and probation office — on the same day as Trump’s speech, Monteiro told the Herald.
According to Monteiro, Leingang has ADHD and bipolar disorder, and is seeing a psychiatrist and therapist in prison.
His estimated date of release from prison is 2038, the Herald reported.