TRANS POLITICAL VIOLENCE: Judge Sentences Man Who Confessed to Planning Scott Bessent Assassination

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a man who confessed to planning the assassination of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Judge Rudolph Contreras, an appointee of President Barack Obama, sentenced 24-year-old Ryan Michael English to 73 months in prison, far short of the 121 months prosecutors sought. English, who identifies as transgender and uses female pronouns in his filings, pleaded guilty in March to carrying a firearm, dangerous weapon, explosive, or incendiary device on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.

English, who goes by “Raleigh Jane English,” arrived at the Capitol on Jan. 27, 2025, with two Molotov cocktails and a folding knife, intending to kill Bessent hours before his confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate. He turned himself in to officers without carrying out the attack.

The government agreed to dismiss another firearms charge at sentencing. The judge also ordered English to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term.

Transgender Convict’s Motivation

According to the government’s sentencing memo, the transgender offender stated that he decided to kill Bessent in part due to Bessent’s opposition to increasing the minimum wage.

After English turned himself in, law enforcement discovered a receipt in his pocket, with a message explaining his actions. “You must understand I can feel myself dying slowly b/c of my heart,” he wrote. “This is terrible but I cant do nothing while nazis kill my sisters” (sic).

Speaking with law enforcement after his arrest, English confessed he had traveled to Washington, D.C., planning to kill a leader at a think tank before burning it down. He later saw Bessent on the news and changed his plans.

The transgender shooter mentioned a Reddit post with a video of Bessent. “That Reddit post that I was talking to you about was him being directly asked … ‘Do you think that the federal minimum wage should be increased from $7.25?’ And he said without hesitation … ‘No,’ and he said it with a smile on his face and that got under my skin,” English said.

“This is how I decide who deserves to live or die right? Because I don’t get to make that decision, but it’s as if they’re making it for themself,” he added.

English also said his violent plans were in part inspired by Luigi Mangione, the 28-year-old man who confessed to killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024.

Transgender Backstory

English’s attorney filed a motion seeking a prison sentence between 37 and 46 months.

“Ms. English is a young transexual woman who has experienced trauma and suffering from the day she was born,” the filing states.

“She knew from a young age that she was transgender but was not able to be herself because of her home environment and her parents’ religious beliefs that prevented them from supporting their child in the way that she needed,” the filing claims. “Her lack of family support and decline in her physical and mental health led to an unstable life prior to her arrest in the instant matter.”

The filing linked English’s deterioration to what it described as the Trump administration’s “anti-transgender agenda” and mentioned the death by suicide of English’s “significant other.”

The defendant suggested that his trip to D.C. amounted less to an assassination plot and more to a “cry for help to anyone who could save her from her mental suffering.”

Bessent’s Victim Impact Statement

Bessent filed a victim impact statement defending the government’s request for a hefty prison sentence.

“Radicalized online by hatred of Republicans, the defendant traveled to Washington, D.C. with the aim of killing a high-ranking official,” Bessent noted. “By the time the defendant arrived, the defendant formulated a plan to assassinate me with homemade incendiary devices or, failing that, by stabbing me to death.”

“I had not even taken the oath of office, yet there was a serious attempt to harm me,” the secretary wrote. “My young children’s first memories of this city are forever tied to this attempt on my life.”

Bessent connected this assassination attempt to “a terrifying wave of political violence,” from the attempts on President Trump’s life to similar threats against Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the assassinations of Charlie Kirk and Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.

“Every defendant has an excuse,” he added, mentioning English’s “mental health issues.” Yet Bessent argued that “far more relevant is the defendant’s goal of murdering a cabinet official and the grave harm of the defendant’s conduct to our social compact.”

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro celebrated the sentencing.

“My office will not tolerate attempts to harm public officials that strike at the heart of our democratic process and are antithetical to the values we all depend on,” she said. “The defendant is now a convicted felon and is headed where he belongs: prison.”