A Massachusetts woman who plotted to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was sentenced to more than six years in prison, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.
Riley English of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, was arrested at the U.S. Capitol in January 2025 after turning herself in to police, according to the criminal complaint. Federal prosecutors said the 26-year-old plotted to assassinate Bessent using Molotov cocktails made from vodka bottles and stab him with a folding knife if she got close enough.
“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 Pirro.
English, a transgender woman whom the Justice Department misgendered and deadnamed in its release, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful receipt, possession and/or transfer of a firearm, as well as one count of carrying a firearm, dangerous weapon, explosive or incendiary device on the grounds of the Capitol.
In addition to her 73-month prison sentence, she was also sentenced to three years of unsupervised release.
English was represented in the case by public defenders, according to court documents. Her legal team did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
Federal prosecutors said in their press release that English had confessed to law enforcement that she was there “to kill a cabinet member nominee.” While searching her, police recovered a note addressed to her roommate that said, in part, “This is terrible but I cant do nothing while nazis kill my sisters…Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying.”
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