
Armed man arrested at Capitol after threatening to kill Trump Cabinet members, police say
CNN
A Massachusetts man was arrested on weapons charges after he visited the US Capitol on Monday and told police that he wanted to kill top Republicans, including billionaire investor Scott Bessent on the day the Senate confirmed him as President Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary, according to a Tuesday court filing.
A Massachusetts man was arrested on weapons charges after he visited the US Capitol on Monday and told police that he wanted to kill top Republicans, including billionaire investor Scott Bessent on the day the Senate confirmed him as President Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary, according to a Tuesday court filing. Ryan Michael English, 24, of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, was arrested at the Capitol after he approached police and said he had knives and Molotov cocktails in his possession and wanted to surrender, according to a Capitol police officer’s affidavit. Investigators said they found a folding knife, two homemade firebombs and a lighter in English’s possession. English also told police that he came to the Capitol to kill Bessent, the affidavit says. Investigators searched English’s car and found material for making a homemade explosive device, police said. English told investigators that he traveled from Massachusetts to Washington, DC, intending to kill other Republican political figures — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson — and to burn down the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, according to police. “These actions were specifically to ‘depose’ these political offices and send a message,” the affidavit says.