The private sector had never had a seat at the table at the G20 until Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent extended an invitation this week — one Wall Street leaders happily accepted. 
Economic growth is Bessent’s top priority at the G20 finance ministerial meeting this week in Asheville, North Carolina. Bessent argues that growth cannot happen without the private sector and “rests upon the abundance of our resources, the clarity of our rules, and the strength of our markets.”
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon praised Bessent’s move to extend an invitation, saying, “Good policy is made better when those who lend, hire, invest, and build have a voice in shaping it. Collaboration works.” 
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon echoed Dimon&#8217;s sentiment, saying, “I really appreciate the fact that Treasury has invited a group of people from industry to participate. It really speaks to the desire to have a public-private partnership to drive more economic growth. … I’m happy to be here.”
Bessent’s focus on growth is also central to his answer to the national debt, which recently crossed $40 trillion. He pointed to the Trump administration’s deregulation efforts and restoration of 100% bonus depreciation, which allows businesses to immediately deduct the full cost of certain investments. The policy incentivizes companies to purchase equipment and finance new projects, spurring construction and manufacturing — including the data centers powering the artificial intelligence boom. Bessent argues that growth from those investments could help the economy outpace its mounting debt burden.
He also invited a subset of private leaders to share with foreign leaders how AI and AI regulation affect their businesses. 
“They asked me to come speak on an AI panel and how AI is affecting our business which is exciting,” Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said. 
Bessent told The Daily Wire that he hopes other countries commit to pro-growth initiatives, but added that there is no guarantee they “will take the measures they need.” He explained that countries choose to do business in America because “under President Trump, we have tax certainty, energy certainty, and regulatory certainty.” 
He added that at the Asheville meeting, leaders are working to address imbalances “that are sucking growth from the rest of the world.” 
Bessent’s growth agenda was also reflected in his choice of Asheville as the meeting’s host city. “We chose Asheville, not only because we want to showcase this beautiful place, but also to show the resiliency of the people,” Bessent said. “Only two years ago, Hurricane Helene brought communities in this region to the brink of ruin. Families were forced from their homes, rivers overran their roads, and businesses that stood for generations were suddenly washed away.”
Bessent said Asheville’s response demonstrated the resilience needed to turn devastation into renewed economic growth. “A region tested by disaster responded with the resilience that has long defined the American people.”

IMG_5126

Bessent’s Unprecedented Move Wins Praise From Wall Street Heavyweights

david solomon

economic growth

jamie dimon

politics

scott bessent

Americans have good reason to be skeptical when Washington announces another round of sanctions.
For years, politicians of both parties have reached for sanctions to be seen as doing something — anything — about the long list of threats facing U.S. national security. Unfortunately, calls for more sanctions aren’t always matched by a coherent strategy.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s “Operation Economic Outcast” against Iran could be different.
When Mr. Bessent <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0613">promised</a> an “economic D-Day” on August 24, the initial rollout looked more like another warning shot. Treasury sanctioned nearly 60 individuals, companies, and vessels and broadened the scope of targets that could be sanctioned for operating in various parts of the Iranian economy. Missing, however, was any action against a financial institution enabling Iran.
Four days later, that changed. Treasury <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0617/">began</a> a process that, if implemented following an initial 30-day public comment period, could soon cut off the United Arab Emirates branches of Egypt’s state-owned Banque Misr from the U.S. financial system. According to Treasury data, the branches <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/system/files/2026-08/Banque-Misr-UAE-NPRM.pdf">processed</a> about $1.8 billion for 103 suspected Iranian shadow banking fronts since 2024, including companies tied to Iran’s Defense Ministry and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
This is exactly the type of action Washington needs more of.
Iran has spent years building <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0477">networks</a> of foreign-registered companies, exchange houses, shipping firms, and financial intermediaries designed to disguise sanctioned oil and petrochemical sales and move the proceeds back to the regime. Sanction one shell company and another can replace it. Make the bank processing those transactions fear losing access to the American financial system, and it faces an obvious commercial choice that Washington has rarely forced.
To be sure, the U.S. has threatened foreign banks for dealing with Iran before. More than a decade ago, the objective was to persuade governments to wean themselves off Iranian oil by putting their banks’ access to the U.S. financial system at risk.
The challenge today is different.
Rather than merely pressuring countries to buy less Iranian oil, the administration now appears to be targeting the financial institutions that have enabled Iran to keep selling sanctioned oil, laundering the proceeds, and accessing the U.S. financial system despite years of sanctions.
If sustained, that would put real teeth behind sanctions enforcement. And its importance would extend far beyond Iran.
The same permissive financial hubs, opaque corporate structures, and weak due diligence practices that facilitate Iranian sanctions evasion also serve Russian sanctions evaders, North Korean procurement networks, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations. Financial institutions willing to ignore obvious warning signs rarely do so for only one malign actor.
Still, Iran adds a uniquely urgent national security dimension to the problem. Its illicit financial networks generate resources for the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, a regime that has repeatedly approached the nuclear threshold. Disrupting those networks is critical to preventing Tehran from reconstituting the capabilities that have repeatedly brought the Middle East to the brink.
That is why critics shouldn’t dismiss Operation Economic Outcast before seeing whether Treasury follows through. Nor should supporters declare victory because of one action against one bank’s branches in the UAE.
The right measure of success is whether foreign banks stop processing Iranian business, whether jurisdictions harboring Iran’s shadow banking networks tighten oversight, and whether Tehran finds it harder to profit from its illicit sanctions evasion networks.
Beginning with action against a bank’s branches in the UAE is smart. The UAE is a partner, but it also faces significant money laundering and terror financing risks that will be difficult to reform quickly. Treasury shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that, beyond the UAE, no jurisdiction is more important to Iranian sanctions evasion than China. Beijing <a href="https://www.uscc.gov/research/china-iran-fact-sheet-short-primer-relationship">purchases</a> roughly 90% of Iran’s exported oil, and the commercial and financial infrastructure surrounding that trade remains indispensable to Tehran.
Treasury has a wide escalation ladder available, but it cannot succeed without taking aim at these institutions. The Chinese will protest, but they too should face the commercial choice the U.S. presented to Banque Misr UAE: access to the U.S. financial system or continued dealings with Iran. China’s export-dependent economy still relies heavily on dollars, and its ability to import more energy than any other country still depends heavily on the U.S. financial system. The choice should be obvious.
Sanctions aren’t inherently effective or ineffective. They are tools, and their value depends on what Washington targets, how aggressively it enforces them, and whether it is prepared to keep applying pressure when targets adapt.
For too long, sanctions have often substituted for strategy. Operation Economic Outcast could change that. Americans should give the campaign a chance to succeed. And they should call out the administration’s half-measures if it doesn’t.
***
Max Meizlish is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He has worked in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Follow Max on X <a href="https://x.com/maxmeizlish/status/2074658279809323226">@maxmeizlish</a>.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Holds A Press Conference

Inside Economic Warfare And The Fight To Dismantle Iran’s Financial Lifelines

china

iran sanction

treasury department

united arab emirates

world

WASHINGTON — Just days after a man was sentenced for planning to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, authorities arrested another suspect near the U.S. Capitol — a man with a guillotine in the back of his truck.
Thirty-five-year-old Philan-Tam-Duy Le of Julian, California, had illegally parked his car along the 100 block of East Capitol Street, near the U.S. Supreme Court and the Capitol building. The U.S. Capitol Police said that they seized a guillotine spotted in the bed of his pickup truck on Tuesday afternoon around 3 p.m. after they noticed his car was illegally parked.
The suspect drove from California to Washington, D.C., and was arrested for carrying a dangerous weapon, according to the department.
&#8220;USCP investigators are going through the suspect’s background to learn more about why he came to Washington, DC,&#8221; Capitol Police said in a <a href="https://www.uscp.gov/media-center/press-releases/uscp-arrests-driver-guillotine-truckbed">statement</a>.
Photos provided by the police show a tall, apparently life-sized, guillotine sitting in the back of a black pickup truck. A family member told The Los Angeles Times that he recognized the truck as his brother&#8217;s vehicle.
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/man-arrested-with-guillotine-outside-united-states-supreme-court/photo-courtesy-of-the-united-states-capitol-police-2" rel="attachment wp-att-1165819"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1165819 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Photo-courtesy-of-the-United-States-Capitol-Police-2.png" alt="" width="480" height="270" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Photo-courtesy-of-the-United-States-Capitol-Police-2.png 480w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Photo-courtesy-of-the-United-States-Capitol-Police-2-300x169.png 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" /></a>
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/man-arrested-with-guillotine-outside-united-states-supreme-court/photo-courtesy-of-the-united-states-capitol-police" rel="attachment wp-att-1165821"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1165821 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Photo-courtesy-of-the-United-States-Capitol-Police.png" alt="" width="480" height="270" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Photo-courtesy-of-the-United-States-Capitol-Police.png 480w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Photo-courtesy-of-the-United-States-Capitol-Police-300x169.png 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" /></a>
&nbsp;
The Secret Service told The Daily Wire that it is not involved in investigating the matter, and Capitol Police said they do not yet know the suspect&#8217;s motive.
The suspect&#8217;s brother told the Los Angeles Times that the guillotine was probably a &#8220;symbol of disapproval&#8221; and that Le was generally happy about the state of American politics and disliked both Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom. The suspect&#8217;s brother, Kelvin Le, described his brother as a free spirit who funded his travels around the country by working as a tattoo artist and doing piercings.
Le is one of several individuals who have been arrested after traveling across the country with a dangerous weapon.
Last week, 25-year-old Ryan Michael English (who goes by Reily or Raleigh Jane English) of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 73 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release for plotting to kill Bessent, according to the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/massachusetts-resident-sentenced-attempt-assassinate-cabinet-member-nominee-us-capitol" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justice Department.</a> English identified as a transgender woman and is one of a number of trans-identifying attempted assassins who have made headlines in recent years.
Nicholas Roske, the man who attempted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh (another individual who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-attempted-kavanaugh-assassin-identifies-as-transgender-woman-legal-filings-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">identifies as a transgender woman),</a> traveled from California to the D.C. area to kill the justice. According to prosecutors, Roske sought to keep Roe v. Wade from being overturned.
The Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. In October 2025, police arrested a man who had hundreds of explosive devices with him outside a Mass in honor of the Supreme Court at St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C. He had a manifesto indicating he was targeting the Supreme Court and Catholics, according to court papers obtained by The Daily Wire.
The manifesto “revealed his significant animosity towards the Catholic church, members of the Jewish faith, members of SCOTUS and ICE/ ICE facilities,” police said.

Photo courtesy of the United States Capitol Police

Man Arrested With Guillotine Outside United States Supreme Court

brett kavanaugh

political violence

supreme court of the united states

us capitol police

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent&#8217;s plan to expand the government&#8217;s purchases of long-term debt is drawing fire from some of Wall Street&#8217;s biggest names, including his former boss and mentor, Stanley Druckenmiller. 
“The long-term Treasury yield is the most important price in the world. It is also the only fiscal disciplinarian the U.S. has left,” Druckenmiller <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/let-the-bond-market-speak-81529d74">wrote</a>, arguing that Washington is attempting to artificially lower the long-term yield instead of fixing the market fundamentals that led to its rise in the first place. 
“Every basis point of artificial yield suppression is a subsidy to procrastination,” he added. 
The Treasury Department announced last week that it would at least double the size of its liquidity-support buybacks for long-dated securities, increasing the amount from a maximum of $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation. 
“The U.S. Department of the Treasury is increasing, by at least double, the size of liquidity support buyback operations for longer-dated nominal coupon securities,&#8221; the department said. The expanded operations will cover securities in the 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year sectors.
The change will take effect September 9 and remain in place until November 4, when Treasury is scheduled to provide additional guidance.
Druckenmiller was not the only Wall Street figure to criticize the move. Nohshad Shah, head of fixed-income sales at Citadel Securities,  <a href="https://www.citadelsecurities.com/news-and-insights/macro-thoughts/hard-choices/?series=macro-thoughts">argued</a> that intervention would not provide a durable solution.
“The durable solution is not repeated intervention, but harder choices on fiscal policy and central banks willing to get ahead of inflation…including, if necessary, by hiking rates,” he said. 
Shah argued that the high yield is that fiscal and monetary policy should be tighter. 
“The bond market’s message is straightforward: fiscal or monetary policy should be tighter,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Preventing Treasuries from clearing at lower prices does not eliminate that pressure…it merely shifts it elsewhere.” 
Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, called the move a short-term gimmick. In a client note, she said Morgan Stanley views &#8220;non-crisis market intervention and financial engineering attempts as short-lived gimmicks.” 
LPL Financial&#8217;s chief fixed income strategist <a href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/u-s-stocks-and-bonds-slide-brushing-off-treasurys-buyback-plans-57ced23b">called</a> Treasury’s move a temporary fix. 
“This is a Band-Aid,&#8221; the strategist said. &#8220;This doesn’t really fix the problem.” 
Mike Sanders, head of fixed income at Madison Investments, said he was worried the market would respond. 
“My fear is that the market is going to try to fight them on it at a certain point,” Sanders said.
Not all of Wall Street pushed back on the endeavor. Portfolio manager Vincent Ahn <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/pressure-on-bonds-abates-as-treasury-announces-buybacks-what-may-come-next-af7d7c76?utm_source=chatgpt.com">said</a> that “Bessent seems willing to use balance-sheet tools more aggressively when the ultralong end starts deteriorating.”
Investors initially reacted positively to the announcement, with both the S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq trading higher following the news. 
The Treasury Department said the move reflects its desire “to provide greater support in longer-dated nominal sectors where there is consistent strong sponsorship from market participants, as evidenced by the significant volume of  high-quality offers Treasury routinely receives in longer-dated buyback operations.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Scott Bessent’s Latest Big Plan Has Wall Street In A Blender

bond market

business

government debt

stanley druckenmiller

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday launched “Operation Economic Outcast,” a campaign to cut Iran off from the global economy and punish governments, banks, and companies that continue doing business with Tehran.
The announcement comes roughly six months after President Donald Trump launched his military campaign against Iran, with Bessent saying the new economic offensive will target the financial networks and revenue streams that sustain the Iranian government, military, and security apparatus.
Bessent described the campaign as an “economic D-Day,” comparing it to the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II, and warned that countries enabling Iran’s trade and financial activity will face U.S. sanctions.
“Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Bessent said. “President Trump has taken action that his predecessors have long deferred, and under his leadership, America is no longer managing the Iranian threat; we are ending it.”
The campaign marks a significant escalation in Washington’s pressure on Tehran. Rather than focusing solely on Iranian entities, the administration is threatening the international banks, companies, and governments that help keep Iran connected to the global financial system.
Bessent said the Treasury has mapped the networks Iran uses to smuggle oil and evade sanctions and will pursue a “zero-leakage approach” to cutting off those channels. The administration is giving countries and entities a chance to shut down activities identified by Washington, but Bessent warned that the window will be short.
“No one is above the reach of U.S. sanctions,” Bessent said when asked whether Chinese banks could eventually be targeted. 
He declined to name specific institutions but said any bank or entity that facilitates transactions that turn Iranian oil into revenue for the regime could face sanctions.
The first round of measures targets five sectors Bessent called vital Iranian lifelines: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping. 
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is also sanctioning more than 60 entities, individuals, and vessels accused of helping Iran procure nuclear and missile technology, conduct cyber operations, and generate oil revenue.
Bessent said every branch of Bank Melli, Iran’s largest commercial bank, should be “shuttered and dark” and warned that entities facilitating money laundering for Iran would be cut off from the U.S. dollar system.
Trump has been calling world leaders with specific requests to end their interactions with Tehran, Bessent said, while State Department and Treasury officials are following up with governments and entities to outline Washington’s expectations. He declined to identify the countries involved or give a specific deadline, saying the United States does not have “infinite patience.”
Bessent said a “wave of sanctions” would begin immediately and predicted a major announcement involving a financial institution by the end of the week.
He pointed to the United Arab Emirates as an early example of a country responding to the pressure. The UAE suspended all trade with Iran last week following new Iranian attacks on the Gulf country, which has faced hundreds of attacks since the war began.
Asked why the United States was not simply imposing the sanctions immediately, given his comparison to D-Day, Bessent said Washington did not want to “blow up the global financial system” and instead is giving countries and institutions a chance to remedy what the administration considers bad behavior before imposing secondary sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei warned Monday that Tehran will retaliate against President Trump&#8217;s “Economic D-Day” sanctions campaign, including potentially targeting countries that cooperate with Washington.
“Any escalation of this situation will undoubtedly bring about consequences,” Baghaei said. “Our hands are not tied.”

Mojtaba

‘Operation Economic Outcast’: Trump Admin Launches Economic D-Day Against Iran

donald trump

iran

sanctions

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent fired a blistering shot across Iran’s bow, declaring that President Donald Trump is bringing the hammer down on the Islamic Republic once and for all.
Writing in the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/cb865200-1a06-40be-86a3-10ee2bb05804">Financial Times</a> on Sunday, Bessent wrote, “We are entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary. “
Bessent, channeling WWII, compared the Trump administration’s economic strategy to the 1943 Tehran Conference where Allied leaders plotted the downfall of Nazi tyranny. But this time around, the target is Tehran.
“For 47 years, the Islamic republic of Iran has been a malignant force in the world,” Bessent declared. “Within Iran, a corrupt regime has consigned what would be one of the world’s strongest economies to ruin and its enterprising people to repression. Beyond its borders, the Iranian regime maintains a network of proxies that perpetuate its terror.”
Bessent then turned to the nations that have covertly or overtly supported the despotic Iranian regime.
&#8220;The regime’s final refuge now lies in the self-deception of fearful nations that still believe accommodating aggression can secure a durable peace,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;Iran’s enablers purchase and transport its petroleum. They facilitate the flow of its finances through exchange houses and free trade zones. They welcome Iran’s flights and maintain registries on its behalf. They turn a blind eye to seaborne fuel transfers and the illicit use of their banks, all while concealing the extent of their complicity.. In short, these countries calculate appeasement of the regime to be the safer course. But they would do well to consider the consequences of sustaining it.&#8221;
Bessent invoked the 17th-century philosopher Blaise Pascal, whose famous wager stated that human reason cannot definitively settle the question of whether God exists. Pascal argued that humans should think like gamblers, weighing the relative costs and payoffs of believing versus not believing. He contended that if you bet on God and are right, you gain everything (infinity); if you bet on God and are wrong, you lose very little (a few finite pleasures or the time spent in worship); but if you bet against God and are wrong, you lose everything (infinite pain/loss), thus any rational person should choose to believe in God, because risking an infinite loss for a temporary, finite gain is a terrible bet.
Bessent said of Pascal, “He understood that uncertainty does not absolve men or nations of divine judgment. In fact, it demands a more exacting appraisal of risk and imposes a higher price for error. Pascal’s eponymous wager now applies to Iran’s lifelines. Nations that, in courting reprieve from Tehran, continue to replenish the very regime from which they seek protection — and now exceed the limits of America’s tolerance.”
Bessent shredded decades of weak-kneed Washington politicians, writing, “For decades, the political class accepted an endless cycle of provocation instead of advancing American interests. Not another generation should be condemned to the menace of fanatics who devote themselves to ‘death to America’ and fulfilling the regime’s nuclear ambitions.”
“Those who sever Iran’s remaining financial and commercial connectivity will reinvigorate their own,” he urged. “They will deepen their access to global capital, reinforce confidence in their markets and attain the standing they seek in the world economy.”
“The Islamic republic has subsisted by dressing extortion as security guarantees,” he continued. “ It has drawn strength from a calculus that regards Iranian retaliation as certain and American enforcement as negotiable. Under President Trump, that era is over. And those who fear the danger of defying Tehran ought not to discount the cost of testing Washington.”
He concluded, “Pascal considered salvation to be a choice. As a great wave of American resolve comes ashore, are Iran’s enablers willing to wager their future against it?”
Bessent’s warning is clear: the Trump administration is bringing the ultimate financial reckoning.

President Trump Meets With Lebanese President Joseph Aoun

‘We Are Entering The Endgame’: Trump Admin Sends Major Warning As ‘Economic D-Day’ Begins

WASHINGTON — A man who identifies as a transgender woman has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for plotting to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, yet another example of a trans-identifying individual who plotted politically motivated violence.
Twenty-five-year-old Ryan Michael English (who goes by Reily or Raleigh Jane English) of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in March to weapons charges stemming from a plot to assassinate Bessent. On Tuesday, a judge sentenced English to 73 months and 36 months of supervised release, according to the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/massachusetts-resident-sentenced-attempt-assassinate-cabinet-member-nominee-us-capitol">Justice Department</a>.
His gender identity was not publicly known until Tuesday, when court documents and testimony showed that English identifies as a woman.
Though prosecutors asked for 10 years, Judge Rudolph Contreras rejected the government&#8217;s request for a maximum sentence, a person who attended the proceedings told The Daily Wire. The judge highlighted that English identifies as transgender and took into account that English&#8217;s family did not accept his gender identity, saying that English had suffered because of this.
The government had argued that English should receive the maximum sentence to send a message that political violence is unacceptable. But Contreras rejected the government’s request, saying this was a low-visibility case and wouldn&#8217;t deter political violence because few people would learn about it.
According to the attendee, Contreras also asked prosecutors what message President Donald Trump&#8217;s pardons of January 6 defendants and efforts to establish a fund to compensate them sent about deterring political violence.
Contreras also said he would recommend housing English in a women&#8217;s prison, according to the attendee. A separate source familiar with the matter told The Daily Wire that English still has male genitalia.
English had approached a Capitol Police officer near the south door of the Capitol building on January 27, 2025, and said, &#8220;I&#8217;d like to turn myself in,&#8221; then admitted to possessing a knife and two Molotov cocktails, according to court documents. After officers searched English, they found that he had a folding knife and two improvised incendiary devices in his pockets, as well as a green lighter.
“I was going to kill Scott Bessent,&#8221; he admitted after he was handcuffed, according to authorities. He also told them: &#8220;For everything I’ve said, yes, I was going to kill a man in cold blood who I never met, yes.&#8221;
English struggled with his physical health, mental health, and substance abuse, the court filings state.
He told investigators that before focusing on Bessent, he had considered killing other government officials, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, or attacking a Washington think tank, which Fox News identified as the Heritage Foundation. After seeing Bessent on TV while at a library in the D.C. area, he changed his mind and decided to kill the Treasury Secretary.
Brian Phillips, Vice President of Communications at the Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Wire, &#8220;We are grateful to law enforcement for getting these lunatics off the street. As always, vigilance is the price of freedom.”
<div id="attachment_1160321" style="width: 872px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/transgender-identifying-man-sought-to-kill-scott-bessent/senate-confirmation-hearings-for-us-president-elect-donald-trumps-nominees" rel="attachment wp-att-1160321"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1160321" class="wp-image-1160321 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2194287780-862x576.jpg" alt="" width="862" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2194287780-862x576.jpg 862w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2194287780-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2194287780-768x513.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2194287780.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 862px) 100vw, 862px" /></a>Scott Bessent speaks during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on January 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)</div>
&#8220;Judith dear god I am so sorry,&#8221; English wrote in a note recovered by authorities, according to court documents. &#8220;You must understand I can feel myself dying slowly b/c of my heart. This is terrible but I can&#8217;t do nothing while nazis kill my sisters. I love you. This is awful. Im so sorry. I love u. Please stay alive and heal. you can. you are strong enough. F*ck them for pushing us so far. you don&#8217;t deserve this. Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying. Please survive.&#8221;
That message was written on a receipt and accompanied by drawings of seven hearts, according to court documents. English also had the words &#8220;NO FUTURE NO CHOICE&#8221; handwritten on his arm.
When officers asked him why he was in Washington, he told them, &#8220;pretty much the words on my arms say everything.&#8221;
He also revealed that he was inspired by Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
&#8220;I was planning on burning down [a Washington, D.C.-based think tank] which is near the White House,&#8221; he told authorities, the court documents show.
&#8220;I was going to go there under the guise of I applied for an internship&#8230;I was going to go to the [think tank], tell them what they wanted to hear, and basically say that I was &#8216;oh I was emailing with [individual-1] for a while, oh it must have been a scam, oh that&#8217;s so unfortunate&#8217; and introduce myself&#8230;.&#8221;
English detailed that he was trying to think of ways to meet a certain individual within the think tank and kill them &#8220;for revenge,&#8221; and if not, he was planning on &#8220;burning down the building.&#8221;
&#8220;I was making all of these plans in my head of what I could do,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If all else fails, I was going to slit my wrists on the White House steps. Just because that&#8217;s all you can do if you can&#8217;t hurt anyone else and you&#8217;re out of options and you&#8217;re out of time and you need to have an outlet and you need to show people how serious it is and you need to make one dramatic f*cking thing.&#8221;
English also told authorities that he had considered staking out Washington and looking for opportunities to harm &#8220;big players,&#8221; according to the filings.
English said he fixated on Bessent after seeing him on television, then stumbling on a Reddit post about Bessent saying the federal minimum wage should not be increased. &#8220;I believe he&#8217;s a billionaire &#8230;&#8221; English told authorities. He was particularly bothered by how Bessent smiled as he said the minimum wage should not be increased from $7.25.
&#8220;He said it with a smile on his face and that got under my skin &#8230; and this is how I decide who deserves to live or die right? Because I don&#8217;t get to make that decision, but it&#8217;s as if they&#8217;re making it for themself.&#8221;
English is one of a number of trans-identifying individuals who have been implicated in plots or acts of violence targeting Americans over politics or religion in recent years. The Daily Wire reported in September 2025 that Nicholas Roske, the man who attempted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-attempted-kavanaugh-assassin-identifies-as-transgender-woman-legal-filings-show">identifies as a transgender woman</a> and was deeply mentally ill and suicidal.
On August 27, 2025, trans-identifying shooter Robert Westman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-we-know-about-the-trans-identifying-gunman-who-slaughtered-catholic-school-children" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killed Catholic school children</a> in Minnesota before taking his own life. Westman’s attack came just two years after another trans-identifying killer targeted Christian school children in Nashville.
In May, Sebastian Gorka, the senior director for counterterrorism at the White House National Security Council, told The Daily Wire that the new White House Counter Terrorism Strategy includes “rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups,” including those subscribing to transgender ideology.
Gorka slammed previous administrations for ignoring real threats while weaponizing agencies against Americans, saying that &#8220;Americans have witnessed the politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives increasingly committed by violent Left-wing extremists, including the assassination of my friend Charlie Kirk by a radical who espoused extremist transgender ideologies.&#8221;

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Testifies To Senate Finance Committee On Treasury Dept’s Budget

Transgender-Identifying Man Sought To Kill Scott Bessent

assassination plot

heritage foundation

transgender

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent honored the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in their home state of South Carolina on Monday as Joint Base Charleston was renamed in the senator&#8217;s honor.
“Lindsey Graham believed that the first obligation of the federal government is to keep its people safe,” Bessent said. “To place his name upon a base dedicated to our defense is to join Lindsey’s memory to the cause that animated his entire life.”
Bessent said Graham’s legacy belonged at the newly renamed Joint Base Lindsey Graham precisely because the senator “never outgrew the people or the places that first claimed him as our own.”
“Few men have traveled greater distances without ever leaving home behind,” Bessent said.
Bessent described Joint Base Lindsey Graham as the backbone of the Air Force’s C-17 fleet, calling the aircraft &#8220;the workhorse of our air defense.&#8221; He drew a comparison to Graham’s work in the Senate.
“From today forward, these planes will have Joint Base Graham on their tails,&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;A reminder that Senator Graham was the American people&#8217;s workhorse.” 
Bessent was joined by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who echoed his tribute and emphasized Graham&#8217;s battles against left-wing ideology in the military.
“Lindsey spent his final years taking on a radical leftist ideology that had run rampant in the media, in academia, and even among a few members of Congress,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth argued that left-wing ideology had “killed&#8221; military recruiting efforts. 
Graham <a href="https://www.ngaus.org/magazine/conversation-sen-lindsey-graham?utm_source=chatgpt.com">linked</a> the military’s recruiting and retention struggles to the armed forces’ increasingly “woke” reputation. Graham backed a defense bill that banned the military from paying for gender-affirming healthcare for its soldiers, imposed a hiring freeze on all individuals tied to DEI initiatives, redirected $50 million in DEI programming to countering the flow of narcotics, and swapped DEI onboarding training for comprehensive training on the U.S. Constitution. 
For most of his career, Graham traveled to international hot spots to immerse himself in foreign policy and national security. His political career built on his distinguished record in the United States Air Force, where he served on active duty as an Air Force lawyer. Graham was stationed at Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany before later joining the South Carolina Air National Guard.
A memo signed by Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink said the base was renamed after Graham to honor his “decades of distinguished service to the United States Congress and the United States Air Force.” 
Graham remained focused on foreign policy until the final days of his life. Shortly before his death, he traveled to Ukraine, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and pushed for tougher sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia to end its war in Ukraine.

Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham’s Military Legacy Gets A Lasting Tribute

joint base charleston

lindsey graham

pete hegseth

united states air force

The Trump administration reported the single largest month for arrests by ICE in July, but now, its efforts are moving beyond the border and into community banks. 
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Arizona on Thursday to tell lenders to view credit applications under an increasingly scrutinized lens. 
&#8220;This administration will not tolerate blatant abuse of our financial system, nor will it permit risks posed by the extension of financial services to illegal aliens,&#8221; Bessent <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0595">told</a> the bankers. 
He was careful to frame the ask as part of the bankers’ ordinary duties rather than an expansion into border enforcement. 
&#8220;We do not ask bankers to assume the burdens of border enforcement,&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;But we depend on banks to do what you do best: know your customers, identify risks as they arise, and report suspicious patterns before they metastasize into criminal schemes.&#8221;
The administration is pushing the banks to view lending money to undocumented immigrants as an added risk. The administration outlined concerns, such as the possibility of deportation and termination after an employer discovers the employee doesn&#8217;t have a valid work authorization. The guidance does not carry the force of law, however, as banks are not prohibited from offering accounts or loans to illegal immigrants.
Bessent argued that Arizona carries particular weight in the effort, telling the bankers the state &#8220;remains uniquely exposed to the aftershocks of Biden&#8217;s border crisis, including cartels and criminal organizations that seek to conceal illicit proceeds within legitimate channels.&#8221; He made similar remarks in Texas, given its proximity to the southern border. 
Critics of the Trump administration&#8217;s new guidance argue that community banks will suffer if they have to bear the burden of increased compliance as they face pressure to more closely scrutinize their customers. 
The National Association of Latino Credit Unions and Professionals <a href="https://inclusiv.org/news/inclusiv-nlcup-joint-statement-executive-order-restoring-integrity-americas-financial-system">said</a> the guidance will create a “nearly insurmountable operations and compliance burden for financial institutions in tracking the immigration and work authorization status of their members. This burden will be felt most acutely by small credit unions and will likely lead to closures and fewer affordable financial services in the communities that need credit unions the most.”
Bessent responded to that criticism by framing the federal government&#8217;s relationship with community banks as a two-way street. The secretary told the audience that even as Washington leans on community banks for vigilance, Treasury owes them relief from what he called years of &#8220;overregulation&#8221; that has cut the number of community and small banks in half since the 2008 financial crisis. 
&#8220;Dodd-Frank was supposed to end &#8216;too big to fail,'&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;Instead, it created &#8216;too small to succeed.&#8217;” 
He reminded the banks of the administration’s commitment to reducing regulation and reminded them that increased regulation did not stop three bank failures in 2023.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent testifies before a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Capitol Hill

Trump Admin Taps Surprising New Partner To Combat Illegal Immigration

arizona

illegal immigration

immigration and customs enforcement

The United States and Japan jointly intervened in currency markets for the first time since 1998, with President Donald Trump calling the move a &#8220;signal of friendship&#8221; toward one of America&#8217;s closest allies.
Asked Monday why the United States stepped in to help strengthen Japan&#8217;s currency, Trump said the decision reflected the close relationship between the two nations while emphasizing that the move would also benefit the United States.
“Everybody wants help from our country,” Trump  said. “We have a good relationship with Japan. We are very strong, very strong financially. And they have a weakening yen and they wanted a little bit of help. And we are always there for Japan. Japan’s been very good for us with the exception of Pearl Harbor. It was really more than anything else, it was a signal of friendship.”
The coordinated intervention, reportedly valued at between $5 billion and $10 billion, marked the first joint U.S.-Japan effort to purchase yen in nearly three decades.
Even before the operation was publicly announced, Reuters photographers captured Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s handwritten notes during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David. Among the items on his to-do list: “Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-$10 bil.&#8221; 
Japan’s Finance Ministry said it requested U.S. assistance to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/business/us-japan-yen.html">counter</a> what it described as “excessive volatility and disorderly movements” in the yen after the currency fell to its weakest level against the U.S. dollar since 1986. As part of the operation, the United States reportedly sold euros to purchase yen. 
Economists <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/02/business/us-buys-japan-yen-intl-hnk">said</a> the Iran war added pressure to Japan&#8217;s currency by driving up global energy prices, increasing costs for the import-dependent country.
“The energy price shock triggered by the US-Iran war has been the last catalyst for a weaker yen, which has been reinforced by the recent hawkish shift in Fed policy communication,” senior currency economist Lee Hardman said.
Japan repeatedly warned about the conflict&#8217;s economic impact before the intervention. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/japan-calls-de-escalation-iran-conflict-2025-06-23/">called</a> for de-escalation in June after warning the war was having an enormous effect on the region. 
Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama indicated the two countries could intervene again if necessary. Bessent <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/5de204a4-4db6-458c-aa9a-324e6bd5e766?syn-25a6b1a6=1">echoed</a> that position, saying the Treasury Department would “not hesitate to participate in further joint intervention.” 
The Federal Reserve has also allowed Japan to borrow money from the Fed, helping it avoid selling U.S. Treasury securities to support the yen.
The yen climbed to a three-month high Monday following the joint currency intervention. 
The operation comes amid strengthening ties between Washington and Tokyo under the Trump administration. Last year, Japan pledged to invest $550 billion in the United States under a bilateral trade agreement, and Trump publicly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trump-congratulates-japans-takaichi-election-win-2026-02-08/">endorsed</a> Takaichi days ahead of her reelection, calling her &#8220;a highly respected and very popular leader.&#8221;

U.S. President Trump Visits USS George Washington In Japan

Trump Makes Rare Move To Bailout Ally’s Collapsing Currency

japan

sanae takaichi

yen currency intervention

The Treasury Department <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0572">dropped the hammer</a> Thursday on a sprawling network of terror-supporting hypocrites, slapping heavy sanctions on Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas operators who hide behind fake charities and underground banks to fund violent extremism.
The Trump administration isn&#8217;t playing games. The Office of Foreign Assets Control exposed a senior U.K.-based Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood official, alongside three money-laundering operatives and three front organizations secretly fueling Hamas’s military wing.
“The Trump administration will relentlessly pursue terrorists and those who finance them,” warned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Whether operating under the guise of charities, businesses, or underground financial networks, those who enable Hamas will be exposed, sanctioned, and held accountable.”
Thursday&#8217;s action pulled back the curtain on how these terror networks exploit donors while funneling cash directly into violent ops. Mahmoud al-Abyari, secretary general of the Muslim Brotherhood General Secretariat, was exposed for managing ties with Hamas and helping raise cash for previously sanctioned terror-linked groups like Hayat Yolu.
Entities like Indonesia’s Tujah Bulah Global (operating under the alias Seven Spikes Global) and the Gaza-based Madad Palestine Charitable Society claimed to gather cash for needy civilians. Instead, the money was secretly diverted straight into the pockets of Hamas fighters. Turkey-based El-Kahira for General Trading, owned by Khuldun Khamis Zakaria Alden and operated with shareholders Zaid and Abdullah Al-Jebouri, moved hundreds of thousands for Hamas. The operation didn&#8217;t stop at terror. It also provided underground fiat and crypto banking to violent European organized crime groups like Sweden’s notorious Foxtrot Network.
This crackdown marks the latest salvo in an aggressive, ongoing push by the Treasury Department to relentlessly pursue Muslim terrorist entities and dismantle their global cash pipelines.
Thursday&#8217;s blitz builds directly on Treasury enforcement actions from earlier this year, including the <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0415">March 12 dragnet</a>, when Treasury targeted four bogus non-profits, including Türkiye-based Ghazi Destek Dernegi and Indonesia’s KNRP, and captured Hamas documents proving that they were secretly funneling cash, supplies, and construction materials exclusively to armed militants in Gaza.
On <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0368">January 21,</a> Feds exposed six Gaza-based front groups posing as medical clinics, including the Waed Society and Al-Nur Society, that were directly integrated into Hamas&#8217;s security apparatus. Treasury also sanctioned the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) and UK organizer Zaher Khaled Hassan Birawi for orchestrating political propaganda and Gaza-bound &#8220;flotillas&#8221; at the direct behest of terror bosses.

Lebanon President Heads To Washington For White House Talks

Treasury Department Busts Global Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas Terror-Financing Network

Department of the Treasury

hamas

muslim brotherhood

The Treasury Department said Tuesday that it prevented nearly $100 million in welfare payments to dead people, thanks to new fraud prevention measures implemented by the Trump administration. 
Since March 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department had identified 4,900 payments worth $99 million that were slated to go to dead people. The payments never went out because they were flagged for review after the department implemented new payment verification policies. 
“Treasury has delivered on a key promise of President Trump’s mandate to stop improper payments and fraud before money leaves the Treasury, and strengthen the integrity of the federal payment system,” Bessent <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0569">said</a> in a statement. “Together with Vice President Vance’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, this new safeguard addresses a longstanding vulnerability and helps ensure every dollar the federal government spends reaches its intended recipient.”
The payments were identified as the department screened 885 million payments worth about $2.77 trillion.
Bessent said the screening took place because the department has increased access to the Social Security Administration’s death master file, making it easier to identify deceased payees. He also pointed to the adoption of the Do Not Pay program, which <a href="https://fiscal.treasury.gov/payment-integrity/do-not-pay-dnp/about">requires</a> identity verification, eligibility confirmation, and bank account information before any payment is doled out. 
“Treasury will continue efforts to modernize the federal payment system, strengthen safeguards against fraud and improper payments, and protect taxpayer dollars,” Bessent said. 
In his first few months back in office, President Donald Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/protecting-americas-bank-account-against-fraud-waste-and-abuse/">executive order</a> aimed at empowering the Treasury Department to identify fraud. Trump’s executive order noted that the Government Accountability Office estimates that the government loses between $233 and $521 billion every year in fraud. 
“This order promotes financial integrity by enabling the Department of the Treasury to more easily conduct improper payment and fraud prevention screening prior to disbursing funds on behalf of agencies,” Trump directed in March 2025. “This order increases transparency and accountability by requiring agencies to provide the Department of the Treasury with the information needed to track transactions through the General Fund in greater detail.”
The Trump administration has brought a strong emphasis on combating fraud with the White House creating a new task force under Vice President JD Vance focused on tackling the issue. The task force opened up an investigation in Ohio after The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-massive-anti-fraud-strike-force-lands-in-ohio?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump’s+Massive+Anti-Fraud+Strike+Force+Lands+In+Ohio">reported</a> on spurious entities being paid millions for so-called home health care services.

Menu