{"id":2411,"date":"2026-08-18T20:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:39:10","slug":"transgender-identifying-man-sought-to-kill-scott-bessent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411","title":{"rendered":"Transgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 A man who identifies as a transgender woman has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for plotting to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, yet another example of a trans-identifying individual who plotted politically motivated violence.<\/p>

Read more Frat Bros Busted After Pledges Forced To Cut Cocaine In University Drug Cartel<\/a><\/p>

Twenty-five-year-old Ryan Michael English (who goes by Reily or Raleigh Jane English) of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in March to weapons charges stemming from a plot to assassinate Bessent. On Tuesday, a judge sentenced English to 73 months and 36 months of supervised release, according to the Justice Department.<\/p>

His gender identity was not publicly known until Tuesday, when court documents and testimony showed that English identifies as a woman.<\/p>

Though prosecutors asked for 10 years, Judge Rudolph Contreras rejected the government\u2019s request for a maximum sentence, a person who attended the proceedings told The Daily Wire. The judge highlighted that English identifies as transgender and took into account that English\u2019s family did not accept his gender identity, saying that English had suffered because of this.<\/p>

The government had argued that English should receive the maximum sentence to send a message that political violence is unacceptable. But Contreras rejected the government\u2019s request, saying this was a low-visibility case and wouldn\u2019t deter political violence because few people would learn about it.<\/p>

According to the attendee, Contreras also asked prosecutors what message President Donald Trump\u2019s pardons of January 6 defendants and efforts to establish a fund to compensate them sent about deterring political violence.<\/p>

Contreras also said he would recommend housing English in a women\u2019s prison, according to the attendee. A separate source familiar with the matter told The Daily Wire that English still has male genitalia.<\/p>

English had approached a Capitol Police officer near the south door of the Capitol building on January 27, 2025, and said, \u201cI\u2019d like to turn myself in,\u201d then admitted to possessing a knife and two Molotov cocktails, according to court documents. After officers searched English, they found that he had a folding knife and two improvised incendiary devices in his pockets, as well as a green lighter.<\/p>

\u201cI was going to kill Scott Bessent,\u201d he admitted after he was handcuffed, according to authorities. He also told them: \u201cFor everything I\u2019ve said, yes, I was going to kill a man in cold blood who I never met, yes.\u201d<\/p>

English struggled with his physical health, mental health, and substance abuse, the court filings state.<\/p>

He told investigators that before focusing on Bessent, he had considered killing other government officials, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, or attacking a Washington think tank, which Fox News identified as the Heritage Foundation. After seeing Bessent on TV while at a library in the D.C. area, he changed his mind and decided to kill the Treasury Secretary.<\/p>

Brian Phillips, Vice President of Communications at the Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Wire, \u201cWe are grateful to law enforcement for getting these lunatics off the street. As always, vigilance is the price of freedom.\u201d<\/p>

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>

\u201cJudith dear god I am so sorry,\u201d English wrote in a note recovered by authorities, according to court documents. \u201cYou must understand I can feel myself dying slowly b\/c of my heart. This is terrible but I can\u2019t do nothing while nazis kill my sisters. I love you. This is awful. Im so sorry. I love u. Please stay alive and heal. you can. you are strong enough. F*ck them for pushing us so far. you don\u2019t deserve this. Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying. Please survive.\u201d<\/p>

That message was written on a receipt and accompanied by drawings of seven hearts, according to court documents. English also had the words \u201cNO FUTURE NO CHOICE\u201d handwritten on his arm.<\/p>

Read more A Radical Columbia Student Threatened The Lives Of Zionists. A Judge Just Tossed His Lawsuit.<\/a><\/p>

When officers asked him why he was in Washington, he told them, \u201cpretty much the words on my arms say everything.\u201d<\/p>

He also revealed that he was inspired by Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.<\/p>

\u201cI was planning on burning down [a Washington, D.C.-based think tank] which is near the White House,\u201d he wrote, the court documents show.<\/p>

\u201cI was going to go there under the guise of I applied for an internship\u2026I was going to go to the [think tank], tell them what they wanted to hear, and basically say that I was \u2018oh I was emailing with [individual-1] for a while, oh it must have been a scam, oh that\u2019s so unfortunate\u2019 and introduce myself\u2026.\u201d<\/p>

English detailed that he was trying to think of ways to meet a certain individual within the think tank and kill them \u201cfor revenge,\u201d and if not, he was planning on \u201cburning down the building.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI was making all of these plans in my head of what I could do,\u201d he said. \u201cIf all else fails, I was going to slit my wrists on the White House steps. Just because that\u2019s all you can do if you can\u2019t hurt anyone else and you\u2019re out of options and you\u2019re out of time and you need to have an outlet and you need to show people how serious it is and you need to make one dramatic f*cking thing.\u201d<\/p>

English also told authorities that he had considered staking out Washington and looking for opportunities to harm \u201cbig players,\u201d according to the filings.<\/p>

English said he fixated on Bessent after seeing him on television, then stumbling on a Reddit post about Bessent saying the federal minimum wage should not be increased. \u201cI believe he\u2019s a billionaire \u2026\u201d English told authorities. He was particularly bothered by how Bessent smiled as he said the minimum wage should not be increased from $7.25.<\/p>

\u201cHe said it with a smile on his face and that got under my skin \u2026 and this is how I decide who deserves to live or die right? Because I don\u2019t get to make that decision, but it\u2019s as if they\u2019re making it for themself.\u201d<\/p>

English is one of a number of trans-identifying individuals who have been implicated in plots or acts of violence targeting Americans over politics or religion in recent years. The Daily Wire reported in September 2025 that Nicholas Roske, the man who attempted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, identifies as a transgender woman and was deeply mentally ill and suicidal.<\/p>

On August 27, 2025, trans-identifying shooter Robert Westman killed Catholic school children in Minnesota before taking his own life. Westman\u2019s attack came just two years after another trans-identifying killer targeted Christian school children in Nashville.<\/p>

In May, Sebastian Gorka, the senior director for counterterrorism at the White House National Security Council, told The Daily Wire that the new White House Counter Terrorism Strategy includes \u201crapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups,\u201d including those subscribing to transgender ideology.<\/p>

Gorka slammed previous administrations for ignoring real threats while weaponizing agencies against Americans, saying that \u201cAmericans have witnessed the politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives increasingly committed by violent Left-wing extremists, including the assassination of my friend Charlie Kirk by a radical who espoused extremist transgender ideologies.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Major Media Figures Caught Meeting With Lobbyists From Islamist Country<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 A man who identifies as a transgender woman has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for plotting to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, yet another example of a trans-identifying individual who plotted politically motivated violence.Twenty-five-year-old Ryan Michael English (who goes by Reily or Raleigh Jane English) of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in March to weapons charges stemming from a plot to assassinate Bessent. On Tuesday, a judge sentenced English to 73 months and 36 months of supervised release, according to the Justice Department.His gender identity was not publicly known until Tuesday, when court documents and testimony showed that English identifies as a woman.Though prosecutors asked for 10 years, Judge Rudolph Contreras rejected the government\u2019s request for a maximum sentence, a person who attended the proceedings told The Daily Wire. The judge highlighted that English identifies as transgender and took into account that English\u2019s family did not accept his gender identity, saying that English had suffered because of this.The government had argued that English should receive the maximum sentence to send a message that political violence is unacceptable. But Contreras rejected the government\u2019s request, saying this was a low-visibility case and wouldn\u2019t deter political violence because few people would learn about it.According to the attendee, Contreras also asked prosecutors what message President Donald Trump\u2019s pardons of January 6 defendants and efforts to establish a fund to compensate them sent about deterring political violence.Contreras also said he would recommend housing English in a women\u2019s prison, according to the attendee. A separate source familiar with the matter told The Daily Wire that English still has male genitalia.English had approached a Capitol Police officer near the south door of the Capitol building on January 27, 2025, and said, \u201cI\u2019d like to turn myself in,\u201d then admitted to possessing a knife and two Molotov cocktails, according to court documents. After officers searched English, they found that he had a folding knife and two improvised incendiary devices in his pockets, as well as a green lighter.\u201cI was going to kill Scott Bessent,\u201d he admitted after he was handcuffed, according to authorities. He also told them: \u201cFor everything I\u2019ve said, yes, I was going to kill a man in cold blood who I never met, yes.\u201dEnglish struggled with his physical health, mental health, and substance abuse, the court filings state.He told investigators that before focusing on Bessent, he had considered killing other government officials, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, or attacking a Washington think tank, which Fox News identified as the Heritage Foundation. After seeing Bessent on TV while at a library in the D.C. area, he changed his mind and decided to kill the Treasury Secretary.Brian Phillips, Vice President of Communications at the Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Wire, \u201cWe are grateful to law enforcement for getting these lunatics off the street. As always, vigilance is the price of freedom.\u201dScott Bessent speaks during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on January 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chen Mengtong\/China News Service\/VCG via Getty Images)\u201cJudith dear god I am so sorry,\u201d English wrote in a note recovered by authorities, according to court documents. \u201cYou must understand I can feel myself dying slowly b\/c of my heart. This is terrible but I can\u2019t do nothing while nazis kill my sisters. I love you. This is awful. Im so sorry. I love u. Please stay alive and heal. you can. you are strong enough. F*ck them for pushing us so far. you don\u2019t deserve this. Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying. Please survive.\u201dThat message was written on a receipt and accompanied by drawings of seven hearts, according to court documents. English also had the words \u201cNO FUTURE NO CHOICE\u201d handwritten on his arm.When officers asked him why he was in Washington, he told them, \u201cpretty much the words on my arms say everything.\u201dHe also revealed that he was inspired by Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.\u201cI was planning on burning down [a Washington, D.C.-based think tank] which is near the White House,\u201d he wrote, the court documents show.\u201cI was going to go there under the guise of I applied for an internship\u2026I was going to go to the [think tank], tell them what they wanted to hear, and basically say that I was \u2018oh I was emailing with [individual-1] for a while, oh it must have been a scam, oh that\u2019s so unfortunate\u2019 and introduce myself\u2026.\u201dEnglish detailed that he was trying to think of ways to meet a certain individual within the think tank and kill them \u201cfor revenge,\u201d and if not, he was planning on \u201cburning down the building.\u201d\u201cI was making all of these plans in my head of what I could do,\u201d he said. \u201cIf all else fails, I was going to slit my wrists on the White House steps. Just because that\u2019s all you can do if you can\u2019t hurt anyone else and you\u2019re out of options and you\u2019re out of time and you need to have an outlet and you need to show people how serious it is and you need to make one dramatic f*cking thing.\u201dEnglish also told authorities that he had considered staking out Washington and looking for opportunities to harm \u201cbig players,\u201d according to the filings.English said he fixated on Bessent after seeing him on television, then stumbling on a Reddit post about Bessent saying the federal minimum wage should not be increased. \u201cI believe he\u2019s a billionaire \u2026\u201d English told authorities. He was particularly bothered by how Bessent smiled as he said the minimum wage should not be increased from $7.25.\u201cHe said it with a smile on his face and that got under my skin \u2026 and this is how I decide who deserves to live or die right? Because I don\u2019t get to make that decision, but it\u2019s as if they\u2019re making it for themself.\u201dEnglish is one of a number of trans-identifying individuals who have been implicated in plots or acts of violence targeting Americans over politics or religion in recent years. The Daily Wire reported in September 2025 that Nicholas Roske, the man who attempted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, identifies as a transgender woman and was deeply mentally ill and suicidal.On August 27, 2025, trans-identifying shooter Robert Westman killed Catholic school children in Minnesota before taking his own life. Westman\u2019s attack came just two years after another trans-identifying killer targeted Christian school children in Nashville.In May, Sebastian Gorka, the senior director for counterterrorism at the White House National Security Council, told The Daily Wire that the new White House Counter Terrorism Strategy includes \u201crapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups,\u201d including those subscribing to transgender ideology.Gorka slammed previous administrations for ignoring real threats while weaponizing agencies against Americans, saying that \u201cAmericans have witnessed the politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives increasingly committed by violent Left-wing extremists, including the assassination of my friend Charlie Kirk by a radical who espoused extremist transgender ideologies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2"],"yoast_head":"\nTransgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent - Blue Route Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Transgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent - Blue Route Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON \u2014 A man who identifies as a transgender woman has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for plotting to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, yet another example of a trans-identifying individual who plotted politically motivated violence.Twenty-five-year-old Ryan Michael English (who goes by Reily or Raleigh Jane English) of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in March to weapons charges stemming from a plot to assassinate Bessent. On Tuesday, a judge sentenced English to 73 months and 36 months of supervised release, according to the Justice Department.His gender identity was not publicly known until Tuesday, when court documents and testimony showed that English identifies as a woman.Though prosecutors asked for 10 years, Judge Rudolph Contreras rejected the government\u2019s request for a maximum sentence, a person who attended the proceedings told The Daily Wire. The judge highlighted that English identifies as transgender and took into account that English\u2019s family did not accept his gender identity, saying that English had suffered because of this.The government had argued that English should receive the maximum sentence to send a message that political violence is unacceptable. But Contreras rejected the government\u2019s request, saying this was a low-visibility case and wouldn\u2019t deter political violence because few people would learn about it.According to the attendee, Contreras also asked prosecutors what message President Donald Trump\u2019s pardons of January 6 defendants and efforts to establish a fund to compensate them sent about deterring political violence.Contreras also said he would recommend housing English in a women\u2019s prison, according to the attendee. A separate source familiar with the matter told The Daily Wire that English still has male genitalia.English had approached a Capitol Police officer near the south door of the Capitol building on January 27, 2025, and said, \u201cI\u2019d like to turn myself in,\u201d then admitted to possessing a knife and two Molotov cocktails, according to court documents. After officers searched English, they found that he had a folding knife and two improvised incendiary devices in his pockets, as well as a green lighter.\u201cI was going to kill Scott Bessent,\u201d he admitted after he was handcuffed, according to authorities. He also told them: \u201cFor everything I\u2019ve said, yes, I was going to kill a man in cold blood who I never met, yes.\u201dEnglish struggled with his physical health, mental health, and substance abuse, the court filings state.He told investigators that before focusing on Bessent, he had considered killing other government officials, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, or attacking a Washington think tank, which Fox News identified as the Heritage Foundation. After seeing Bessent on TV while at a library in the D.C. area, he changed his mind and decided to kill the Treasury Secretary.Brian Phillips, Vice President of Communications at the Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Wire, \u201cWe are grateful to law enforcement for getting these lunatics off the street. As always, vigilance is the price of freedom.\u201dScott Bessent speaks during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on January 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chen Mengtong\/China News Service\/VCG via Getty Images)\u201cJudith dear god I am so sorry,\u201d English wrote in a note recovered by authorities, according to court documents. \u201cYou must understand I can feel myself dying slowly b\/c of my heart. This is terrible but I can\u2019t do nothing while nazis kill my sisters. I love you. This is awful. Im so sorry. I love u. Please stay alive and heal. you can. you are strong enough. F*ck them for pushing us so far. you don\u2019t deserve this. Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying. Please survive.\u201dThat message was written on a receipt and accompanied by drawings of seven hearts, according to court documents. English also had the words \u201cNO FUTURE NO CHOICE\u201d handwritten on his arm.When officers asked him why he was in Washington, he told them, \u201cpretty much the words on my arms say everything.\u201dHe also revealed that he was inspired by Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.\u201cI was planning on burning down [a Washington, D.C.-based think tank] which is near the White House,\u201d he wrote, the court documents show.\u201cI was going to go there under the guise of I applied for an internship\u2026I was going to go to the [think tank], tell them what they wanted to hear, and basically say that I was \u2018oh I was emailing with [individual-1] for a while, oh it must have been a scam, oh that\u2019s so unfortunate\u2019 and introduce myself\u2026.\u201dEnglish detailed that he was trying to think of ways to meet a certain individual within the think tank and kill them \u201cfor revenge,\u201d and if not, he was planning on \u201cburning down the building.\u201d\u201cI was making all of these plans in my head of what I could do,\u201d he said. \u201cIf all else fails, I was going to slit my wrists on the White House steps. Just because that\u2019s all you can do if you can\u2019t hurt anyone else and you\u2019re out of options and you\u2019re out of time and you need to have an outlet and you need to show people how serious it is and you need to make one dramatic f*cking thing.\u201dEnglish also told authorities that he had considered staking out Washington and looking for opportunities to harm \u201cbig players,\u201d according to the filings.English said he fixated on Bessent after seeing him on television, then stumbling on a Reddit post about Bessent saying the federal minimum wage should not be increased. \u201cI believe he\u2019s a billionaire \u2026\u201d English told authorities. He was particularly bothered by how Bessent smiled as he said the minimum wage should not be increased from $7.25.\u201cHe said it with a smile on his face and that got under my skin \u2026 and this is how I decide who deserves to live or die right? Because I don\u2019t get to make that decision, but it\u2019s as if they\u2019re making it for themself.\u201dEnglish is one of a number of trans-identifying individuals who have been implicated in plots or acts of violence targeting Americans over politics or religion in recent years. The Daily Wire reported in September 2025 that Nicholas Roske, the man who attempted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, identifies as a transgender woman and was deeply mentally ill and suicidal.On August 27, 2025, trans-identifying shooter Robert Westman killed Catholic school children in Minnesota before taking his own life. Westman\u2019s attack came just two years after another trans-identifying killer targeted Christian school children in Nashville.In May, Sebastian Gorka, the senior director for counterterrorism at the White House National Security Council, told The Daily Wire that the new White House Counter Terrorism Strategy includes \u201crapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups,\u201d including those subscribing to transgender ideology.Gorka slammed previous administrations for ignoring real threats while weaponizing agencies against Americans, saying that \u201cAmericans have witnessed the politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives increasingly committed by violent Left-wing extremists, including the assassination of my friend Charlie Kirk by a radical who espoused extremist transgender ideologies.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blue Route Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-18T20:39:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/19da116f8d79cf8987781569801c6b7c\"},\"headline\":\"Transgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-18T20:39:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411\"},\"wordCount\":1238,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/cf040ef943049832ff8fb67a81b970f4.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411\",\"name\":\"Transgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent - Blue Route Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/cf040ef943049832ff8fb67a81b970f4.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-18T20:39:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/19da116f8d79cf8987781569801c6b7c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/cf040ef943049832ff8fb67a81b970f4.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/cf040ef943049832ff8fb67a81b970f4.avif\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2411#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Transgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Blue Route Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/19da116f8d79cf8987781569801c6b7c\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Transgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent - Blue Route Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Transgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent - Blue Route Journal","og_description":"WASHINGTON \u2014 A man who identifies as a transgender woman has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for plotting to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, yet another example of a trans-identifying individual who plotted politically motivated violence.Twenty-five-year-old Ryan Michael English (who goes by Reily or Raleigh Jane English) of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in March to weapons charges stemming from a plot to assassinate Bessent. On Tuesday, a judge sentenced English to 73 months and 36 months of supervised release, according to the Justice Department.His gender identity was not publicly known until Tuesday, when court documents and testimony showed that English identifies as a woman.Though prosecutors asked for 10 years, Judge Rudolph Contreras rejected the government\u2019s request for a maximum sentence, a person who attended the proceedings told The Daily Wire. The judge highlighted that English identifies as transgender and took into account that English\u2019s family did not accept his gender identity, saying that English had suffered because of this.The government had argued that English should receive the maximum sentence to send a message that political violence is unacceptable. But Contreras rejected the government\u2019s request, saying this was a low-visibility case and wouldn\u2019t deter political violence because few people would learn about it.According to the attendee, Contreras also asked prosecutors what message President Donald Trump\u2019s pardons of January 6 defendants and efforts to establish a fund to compensate them sent about deterring political violence.Contreras also said he would recommend housing English in a women\u2019s prison, according to the attendee. A separate source familiar with the matter told The Daily Wire that English still has male genitalia.English had approached a Capitol Police officer near the south door of the Capitol building on January 27, 2025, and said, \u201cI\u2019d like to turn myself in,\u201d then admitted to possessing a knife and two Molotov cocktails, according to court documents. After officers searched English, they found that he had a folding knife and two improvised incendiary devices in his pockets, as well as a green lighter.\u201cI was going to kill Scott Bessent,\u201d he admitted after he was handcuffed, according to authorities. He also told them: \u201cFor everything I\u2019ve said, yes, I was going to kill a man in cold blood who I never met, yes.\u201dEnglish struggled with his physical health, mental health, and substance abuse, the court filings state.He told investigators that before focusing on Bessent, he had considered killing other government officials, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, or attacking a Washington think tank, which Fox News identified as the Heritage Foundation. After seeing Bessent on TV while at a library in the D.C. area, he changed his mind and decided to kill the Treasury Secretary.Brian Phillips, Vice President of Communications at the Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Wire, \u201cWe are grateful to law enforcement for getting these lunatics off the street. As always, vigilance is the price of freedom.\u201dScott Bessent speaks during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on January 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chen Mengtong\/China News Service\/VCG via Getty Images)\u201cJudith dear god I am so sorry,\u201d English wrote in a note recovered by authorities, according to court documents. \u201cYou must understand I can feel myself dying slowly b\/c of my heart. This is terrible but I can\u2019t do nothing while nazis kill my sisters. I love you. This is awful. Im so sorry. I love u. Please stay alive and heal. you can. you are strong enough. F*ck them for pushing us so far. you don\u2019t deserve this. Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying. Please survive.\u201dThat message was written on a receipt and accompanied by drawings of seven hearts, according to court documents. English also had the words \u201cNO FUTURE NO CHOICE\u201d handwritten on his arm.When officers asked him why he was in Washington, he told them, \u201cpretty much the words on my arms say everything.\u201dHe also revealed that he was inspired by Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.\u201cI was planning on burning down [a Washington, D.C.-based think tank] which is near the White House,\u201d he wrote, the court documents show.\u201cI was going to go there under the guise of I applied for an internship\u2026I was going to go to the [think tank], tell them what they wanted to hear, and basically say that I was \u2018oh I was emailing with [individual-1] for a while, oh it must have been a scam, oh that\u2019s so unfortunate\u2019 and introduce myself\u2026.\u201dEnglish detailed that he was trying to think of ways to meet a certain individual within the think tank and kill them \u201cfor revenge,\u201d and if not, he was planning on \u201cburning down the building.\u201d\u201cI was making all of these plans in my head of what I could do,\u201d he said. \u201cIf all else fails, I was going to slit my wrists on the White House steps. Just because that\u2019s all you can do if you can\u2019t hurt anyone else and you\u2019re out of options and you\u2019re out of time and you need to have an outlet and you need to show people how serious it is and you need to make one dramatic f*cking thing.\u201dEnglish also told authorities that he had considered staking out Washington and looking for opportunities to harm \u201cbig players,\u201d according to the filings.English said he fixated on Bessent after seeing him on television, then stumbling on a Reddit post about Bessent saying the federal minimum wage should not be increased. \u201cI believe he\u2019s a billionaire \u2026\u201d English told authorities. He was particularly bothered by how Bessent smiled as he said the minimum wage should not be increased from $7.25.\u201cHe said it with a smile on his face and that got under my skin \u2026 and this is how I decide who deserves to live or die right? Because I don\u2019t get to make that decision, but it\u2019s as if they\u2019re making it for themself.\u201dEnglish is one of a number of trans-identifying individuals who have been implicated in plots or acts of violence targeting Americans over politics or religion in recent years. The Daily Wire reported in September 2025 that Nicholas Roske, the man who attempted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, identifies as a transgender woman and was deeply mentally ill and suicidal.On August 27, 2025, trans-identifying shooter Robert Westman killed Catholic school children in Minnesota before taking his own life. Westman\u2019s attack came just two years after another trans-identifying killer targeted Christian school children in Nashville.In May, Sebastian Gorka, the senior director for counterterrorism at the White House National Security Council, told The Daily Wire that the new White House Counter Terrorism Strategy includes \u201crapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups,\u201d including those subscribing to transgender ideology.Gorka slammed previous administrations for ignoring real threats while weaponizing agencies against Americans, saying that \u201cAmericans have witnessed the politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives increasingly committed by violent Left-wing extremists, including the assassination of my friend Charlie Kirk by a radical who espoused extremist transgender ideologies.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411","og_site_name":"Blue Route Journal","article_published_time":"2026-08-18T20:39:10+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19da116f8d79cf8987781569801c6b7c"},"headline":"Transgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent","datePublished":"2026-08-18T20:39:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411"},"wordCount":1238,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/cf040ef943049832ff8fb67a81b970f4.avif","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411","url":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411","name":"Transgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent - Blue Route Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/cf040ef943049832ff8fb67a81b970f4.avif","datePublished":"2026-08-18T20:39:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19da116f8d79cf8987781569801c6b7c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/cf040ef943049832ff8fb67a81b970f4.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/cf040ef943049832ff8fb67a81b970f4.avif","width":1200,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2411#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Transgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/","name":"Blue Route Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19da116f8d79cf8987781569801c6b7c","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/blueroutejournal.com"],"url":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}