WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� A Massachusetts woman who told police that she brought homemade firebombs to the U.S. Capitol to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was sentenced on Tuesday to just over six years in prison.
Riley English, a 26-year-old transgender woman, said she was in the grips of a mental health crisis and abusing drugs when she drove to Washington in January 2025 and told Capitol police that she was there to kill Bessent on the day of .
鈥淚 never wanted to hurt anyone,鈥� she told U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras. 鈥淚’m not a political person. I’m not a violent person.鈥�
Contreras, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, sentenced English to six years and one month of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. English has remained jailed since her arrest and will get credit for the nearly 20 months that she already has spent in custody.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e had a very difficult life,鈥� Contreras told English. 鈥淗opefully, the progress you鈥檝e made in jail to this date has set you on the right path.鈥�
Nobody was injured, and Contreras said her plan to harm Bessent had an 鈥渆xceedingly low or non-existent鈥� chance of success. Bessent wasn’t at the Capitol when English arrived on Jan. 27, 2025. The Molotov cocktails that English brought to the Capitol appeared to be incapable of igniting, the judge noted.
Prosecutors had of 10 years and one month for English. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Horan said English had been planning the 鈥渁ttempted political assassination鈥� for at least a month at a time when the threat of politically motivated violence has been mounting in the U.S.
鈥淭his was not a chance encounter or an impulsive act,鈥� Horan said.
Defense attorney Maria Jacob said English was 鈥渢errified and traumatized鈥� by fears of what would happen to transgender people under the second Trump administration.
鈥淥ur argument is that she was in a diminished mental state,鈥� Jacob said.
Investigators said they found a folding knife, two homemade firebombs and a lighter in English鈥檚 possession at the Capitol.
English, of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, told police that she was influenced by Luigi Mangione, the man who was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. She said she was 鈥渙n a mission鈥� and 鈥渉ad been thinking about this for a while because of Luigi Mangione,鈥� prosecutors said. English told officers that she was terminally ill and 鈥渨anted to do something before I go,鈥� according to prosecutors.
English also said she traveled from Massachusetts to Washington intending to kill other Republican political figures 鈥� Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson 鈥� and to burn down the , a conservative think tank, according to police. English changed her target to Bessent after reading an internet post about his confirmation hearing, police said.
Jacob said English’s actions last year were 鈥渁 cry for help.鈥�
鈥淭here was no indication that she was acting rationally that day,鈥� the judge said.
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