Bessent invokes assassination attempt '2 hours after being sworn in' in dramatic brushback of leftist threat

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday he was the target of an assassination attempt by a "left-wing activist" just two hours after being sworn into office, citing the case as evidence that violent political extremism from the left is a real and growing threat.

Speaking at the State Department's Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism, Bessent pushed back against critics who have questioned the Trump administration's focus on violent far-left extremist groups.

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

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

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

Prosecutors said English admitted he had come to the Capitol intending to kill a Cabinet nominee whose Senate confirmation vote was scheduled that day or burn down a Washington think tank. Investigators also recovered a note in which he allegedly wrote, in part, "This is terrible but I cant do nothing while nazis kill my sisters."

English pleaded guilty in March 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 U.S. Capitol. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 14.

Before his time as Treasury secretary, 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. Following his departure, he launched Key Square Capital Management with backing from George Soros, the billionaire investor and Democratic megadonor who has frequently been a target of criticism from Trump and other conservatives.

Bessent made the remarks as administration officials gathered representatives from roughly 65 countries for a State Department summit aimed at building international cooperation against what the Trump administration describes as a resurgence of violent far-left political terrorism.