Ryan English surrendered outside the Capitol carrying a knife and two Molotov cocktails before the attack could be carried out
Published 19 Aug, 2026 23:57
| Updated 20 Aug, 2026 01:00
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies at a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 3, 2026. © Nathan Posner / Anadolu via Getty Images
A biological male who identifies as a woman was sentenced on Tuesday to six years and one month in prison after pleading guilty to plotting to kill US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Ryan Michael English, who goes by Raleigh Jane English, turned herself in to a police officer outside the Capitol building on January 27, 2025. Police searched English and found a folding knife, two Molotov cocktails and a lighter in his jacket pockets.
English confessed to traveling to Washington, DC, to kill a Cabinet nominee whose Senate confirmation vote was scheduled for that day, or to burn down an unidentified think tank in the capital. Police found a note to a roommate in English’s pocket that said, “This is terrible but I cant do nothing while nazis kill my sisters… Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying.”
Judge Rudolph Contreras said English was concerned with “trans rights” and that “the plan was basically impossible to succeed, and she turned herself in before it came anywhere near fruition.”
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro rejected English’s argument for a lighter sentence, which portrayed the defendant as “a young transexual woman who has experienced trauma and suffering from the day she was born.”
“My office will not tolerate attempts to intimidate or harm public officials that strike at the heart of our democratic process and are antithetical to the values we all depend on,” Pirro said following the sentencing.
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Police said English was inspired by Luigi Mangione, who was charged with fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December 2024. In his diary and a handwritten note, Mangione allegedly described his frustrations with the healthcare industry. Last week, he pleaded guilty to stalking Thompson, resulting in his death.
The US has seen a series of attacks on public figures in recent years, which observers have attributed in part to increasingly charged political rhetoric.
In September, a gunman killed conservative activist and organizer Charlie Kirk during a speech on a university campus in Utah. US President Donald Trump survived several assassination attempts, including a shooting at his reelection rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.
In June 2025, an assailant murdered Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounded state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. In April of the same year, a man firebombed the residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
