Bessent brings up assassination attempt '2 hours after being sworn in' to send critics a message

WASHINGTON, DC: Scott Bessent said the alleged assassination attempt against him just two hours after he was sworn in proves critics are wrong to dismiss violent far-left extremism.

The Treasury secretary pointed to the criminal case against Ryan Michael English during a State Department summit on Thursday, July 16. He urged skeptics to attend the suspect's August sentencing as evidence the threat is real.

Scott Bessent challenges critics over attack case

Speaking at the Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political T*******m at the State Department, Bessent said commentators who question the Trump administration's emphasis on violent far-left extremist groups should look at the case involving the man accused of targeting him.

"I'm going to remind everyone in this room — and all the media — that I was the subject of an assassination attempt by an addled left-wing activist two hours after being sworn into my job," Bessent said.

He then delivered a pointed message to those who dispute the administration's argument.

"Any of you who want to report that this is a fiction and does not exist, be there for the sentencing this August," he said.

Bessent was referring to Ryan Michael English, a 24-year-old Massachusetts man who pleaded guilty in March to charges connected to attempting to assassinate the then-Treasury secretary nominee at the Capitol.

Ryan English case takes center stage

According to the Justice Department, English traveled to Washington on January 27, 2025, carrying a folding knife and two improvised Molotov cocktails before approaching a Capitol Police officer and asking to turn himself in.

Federal prosecutors said English admitted he came to the Capitol intending to kill a Cabinet nominee whose Senate confirmation vote was scheduled that day or to burn down a Washington think tank.

Investigators also recovered a note in which English allegedly wrote, "This is terrible but I cant do nothing while n***s kill my sisters."

English later pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful receipt, possession and transfer of a firearm and one count of carrying a dangerous weapon on the grounds of the Capitol. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 14.

Trump administration highlights far-left threat

Bessent's remarks came as administration officials hosted representatives from roughly 65 countries for a State Department summit focused on what the Trump administration describes as a resurgence of violent far-left political violence.

As per the Fox News report: “Before joining the administration, Bessent spent years at Soros Fund Management, serving as the firm's chief investment officer from 2011 to 2015 after earlier helping lead its London office.”

After leaving the firm, "he founded Key Square Capital Management with backing from George Soros, the billionaire investor and Democratic megadonor who has frequently drawn criticism from Trump and other conservatives.”

By pointing to the "English case and urging critics to attend the upcoming sentencing,” Bessent framed the prosecution as evidence supporting the administration's argument that violent far-left extremism should not be dismissed as "fiction."