While discussing the threat posed by alleged violent political extremism on the left, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent invoked the assassination attempt by a “left-wing activist” who targeted him two hours after he was sworn in back in 2025. Speaking at the State Department’s Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism, Bessent defended the Trump administration’s focus on far-left extremist groups and announced new efforts to target their alleged sources of funding.
Scott Bessent cites alleged assassination attempt
Addressing attendees at the State Department event, Bessent said he had firsthand experience with politically motivated violence. “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 stemming from an attempt to target Bessent at the Capitol.
Ryan Michael English’s Capitol plot
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 U.S. Capitol Police officer and asking to surrender. Prosecutors said English admitted he had intended to kill a Cabinet nominee whose Senate confirmation vote was scheduled that day or set fire to a Washington think tank. Investigators also recovered a note in which he allegedly wrote, “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 U.S. Capitol grounds. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 14.
Scott Bessent announces efforts to disrupt financial support to political terrorism
Bessent argued that disrupting financial support is essential to combating political violence. “Violence requires money, channels through which funding can move and institutions behind which it can hide,” he said.
He announced that the Treasury Department is expanding efforts to investigate charities and nonprofit organizations allegedly used to finance political terrorism. “At President Trump’s direction, Treasury is expanding its efforts to identify organizations that abuse charitable and nonprofit structures as vehicles for illicit finance,” Bessent said. He added that investigators are examining whether tax-exempt groups have been used as “financial conduits for foreign-influence activity” or have enabled political violence.
Trump administration broadens counterterrorism strategy
Bessent said the initiative will rely on existing financial enforcement tools, including the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which have traditionally been used to combat terrorist financing and sanctions evasion. According to Bessent, the Trump administration now intends to apply those same authorities to identify and disrupt financial networks supporting violent far-left extremist groups.
His remarks came during a State Department summit attended by representatives from roughly 65 countries, where the Trump administration sought to strengthen international cooperation against what it describes as a resurgence of violent far-left political terrorism.
