A woman inspired by Luigi Mangione to try bombing Scott Bessent gets hit with 6 years in prison

A Massachusetts woman, Riley English, who claimed she brought homemade firebombs to the U.S. Capitol intending to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison on Tuesday. English, a 26-year-old transgender woman, said she was in a mental health crisis and abusing drugs when she arrived in Washington in January 2025.

She told Capitol police that her goal was to kill Bessent during his Senate confirmation, but she never intended to harm anyone else. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced her to six years and one month in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Contreras noted that her plan had an "exceedingly low or non-existent" chance of success since the Molotov cocktails she brought to the Capitol were incapable of igniting.

English pleaded guilty to two weapons charges in March. The judge, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, expressed hope that English's time in jail would help her on the "right path." Nobody was injured in the incident, and Bessent was not present at the Capitol when English arrived. Prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of 10 years and one month for English, citing her plans to target other Republican political figures and burn down a conservative think tank.

English's defense argued that she was "terrified and traumatized" by fears of what would happen to transgender people under the second Trump administration and was in a diminished mental state.