A federal courtroom delivered justice this week to the man who once stood feet from the US Capitol carrying homemade firebombs and a plan to kill a sitting Cabinet nominee.
Ryan “Reily” Michael English will spend 73 months in federal prison, the culmination of a case that began with a stunning walk-up confession outside one of the nation’s most secure buildings.
March brought English’s guilty plea, closing out months of legal proceedings tied to his attempt to assassinate Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
At the time of the plot, Bessent had not yet been sworn in — he still held the title of Cabinet nominee, awaiting Senate action.
Court records place the origin of the case on January 27, 2025, a date that would prove pivotal for both English and Bessent alike.
That afternoon, English approached a Capitol Police officer near the South Door entrance and announced his intention to surrender.
A search turned up a disturbing arsenal: a folding knife, a lighter, and two Molotov cocktails built from small vodka bottles.
English did not stay silent once in custody. He told investigators outright that he had traveled to the nation’s capital for one purpose — killing Bessent.
Among English’s belongings, officers located a handwritten note that raised even more alarm, one referencing violence against his own sisters.
In that note, English confessed to a pattern of deception and premeditation, writing that he had been “plotting and lying.”
For more than a year, the assassination attempt remained almost entirely unknown to the public, buried beneath the routine churn of Washington news cycles.
That changed only when Bessent himself chose to speak publicly about the threat against his life, pulling the case into the national spotlight well after the fact.
The date of English’s arrest was no ordinary day at the Capitol — it coincided exactly with the Senate’s vote to confirm Bessent to his post.
That overlap means January 27 now marks two intertwined milestones: the day Bessent officially became Treasury Secretary, and the day his would-be killer was taken off the streets.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia had initially set the sentencing date for August 14 before the case concluded with this week’s ruling.
English’s sentencing lands against a broader backdrop of violence and threats aimed at President Donald Trump and senior figures within his administration in recent years.
No further charges against English have been publicly disclosed at this time.
The case stands as one of several recent flashpoints highlighting the security risks facing top Trump administration officials.
