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Bessent Reveals for First Time He Was Target of Alleged Assassination Plot

Scott Bessent said the suspect pleaded guilty and is due for sentencing in August after carrying weapons to the Capitol.

  • On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed he was the target of an assassination attempt two hours after being sworn into office, addressing delegates at a State Department ministerial on political terrorism.
  • Federal prosecutors charged Ryan Michael English, 24, of Massachusetts, for the plot that began January 27, 2025, when he traveled to the U.S. Capitol carrying a knife and two improvised Molotov cocktails.
  • English pleaded guilty to federal charges in March 2026, including carrying incendiary devices on Capitol grounds, and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 14, 2026.
  • Bessent used the incident to defend the Trump administration's efforts to identify organizations abusing charitable structures for illicit finance, stating, "Violence requires money, channels through which funding can move, and institutions behind which it can hide."
  • Security experts report a sustained increase in political violence targeting public officials since roughly 2020, while officials warn that threats against Congress and the High Court remain dramatically higher than before the January 6 attack.
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ussanews.com broke the news on Thursday, July 16, 2026.
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