Ryan Michael English, 26, of South Deerfield, previously pleaded guilty to two federal weapons charges. A judge sentenced English to 73 months in prison on Tuesday, Aug. 18, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced. English must also serve three years of supervised release.
The plot unfolded on Jan. 27, 2025, when Bessent faced a Senate confirmation vote. English, a transgender woman who also goes by Raleigh Jane English, told federal investigators she traveled to the nation’s capital to kill the 63-year-old Yale University graduate.
But English could not go through with the plot.
Shortly before 3:15 p.m., English approached a US Capitol Police officer near the Capitol Building’s South Door and said, "I'd like to turn myself in," prosecutors said.
The officer found a folding knife and two 50-milliliter Absolut vodka bottles in English’s jacket. Each bottle had a strip of gray cloth attached to the top. The cloth contained alcohol-based hand sanitizer, according to federal authorities. Police also found a green lighter in another pocket.
English was also carrying a note that read in part: "This is terrible but I cant do nothing while nazis kill my sisters. … Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying.”
English told investigators that the goal was to kill the cabinet nominee facing a confirmation vote that day. Bessent was later confirmed as Treasury secretary by a 68-29 vote.
English also admitted to plans to kill a government official or set fire to a think tank, prosecutors said.
Police searched English’s car parked in the 900 block of Independence Avenue Southeast. They found a 750-milliliter bottle of 100-proof vodka and a gray sweatshirt with fabric missing from its sleeves.
“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,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Ferris Pirro. “The defendant is now a convicted felon and is headed where he belongs: prison.”
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