Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 16

Bessent Reveals Assassination Attempt 2 Hours After Swearing-In as Treasury Chief

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 16

Bessent Reveals Assassination Attempt 2 Hours After Swearing-In as Treasury Chief

Q: Why did a would-be assassin with Molotov cocktails at the Capitol simply surrender to police?

There is no confirmed public explanation for why Ryan Michael English surrendered instead of carrying out an attack. The available court and news accounts say he arrived at the Capitol on Jan. 27, 2025, carrying a folding knife and two improvised Molotov cocktails, then approached a U.S. Capitol Police officer and turned himself in. What is documented is his stated intent before surrendering. Prosecutors said English later admitted he had traveled to Washington intending to kill a Cabinet nominee whose confirmation vote was scheduled that day, or alternatively to burn down a Washington think tank. Investigators also recovered a note that they said described his motivations. But the record summarized in the reporting does not say what changed in the moment. There is no public evidence in the material provided that he lost his nerve, reconsidered, feared he would be stopped, or intended from the outset to surrender after reaching the Capitol. Those possibilities remain speculative unless more details emerge in sentencing filings, psychiatric evaluations, or law-enforcement testimony. So the most accurate answer is that he surrendered because he chose to turn himself in to a Capitol Police officer, but the precise reason for that decision has not been publicly established in the reporting now available.

1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 16

Scott Bessent said he was targeted by an assassination attempt two hours after taking office, using the case to argue violent far-left extremism is a real and growing threat.
Ryan Michael English, 24, pleaded guilty in March after prosecutors said he went to the Capitol on Jan. 27, 2025, with a knife and two Molotov cocktails intending to kill a Cabinet nominee.
Bessent told a State Department summit on political terrorism that critics dismissing left-wing violence should attend English's Aug. 14 sentencing.
About 65 countries were represented at the summit, where the Trump administration sought broader cooperation against what it describes as a resurgence of violent far-left political terrorism.

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Fox News2h ago

Treasury Secretary Bessent Reveals Assassination Attempt Two Hours After Swearing-In

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Why did a would-be assassin with Molotov cocktails at the Capitol simply surrender to police?

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Fox News2h ago

Treasury Secretary Bessent Reveals Assassination Attempt Two Hours After Swearing-In

Bessent Reveals Assassination Attempt 2 Hours After Swearing-In as Treasury Chief

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