Pakistani Man with Ties to Iran Arrested for Alleged Plot to Kill Trump and Other US Politicians
A Pakistani man with connections to Iran has been charged in an alleged scheme to assassinate U.S. politicians and officials.
Asif Merchant, 46, is accused of attempting to hire a hitman in New York to kill prominent American officials.
FBI Director Christopher Wray described the plan as a “dangerous murder-for-hire plot… straight out of the Iranian playbook.”
Sources cited by CBS indicated that Donald Trump was among Merchant’s targets.
Security for the Republican presidential nominee was heightened in June after authorities became aware of an Iranian plot to kill him.
“A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any U.S. citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI,” Mr. Wray stated on Tuesday, August 6.
Merchant was arrested in July and is currently being held in New York.
According to the Justice Department’s indictment, Merchant arrived in the U.S. from Pakistan in April after spending time in Iran.
Upon his arrival, he allegedly contacted a person he believed could assist with the assassination plot. This individual later reported Merchant to the police.
Merchant allegedly made a “finger gun” gesture when discussing his intentions.
The indictment mentioned that the job would not be a “one-time opportunity” and that ongoing services would be required.
Merchant allegedly informed the contact that he planned to leave the U.S. before the targets were killed and would stay in contact using code words.
The suspect asked the contact to arrange a meeting with potential assassins. In June, the contact introduced him to undercover FBI agents posing as hitmen.
Merchant allegedly instructed the agents to steal documents from a target’s home, organize protests at political rallies, and kill a “political person.”
According to the indictment, Merchant stated that the targets would be identified in the last week of August or the first week of September.
While the indictment does not name Trump explicitly, sources cited by CBS reported that the former president was one of the intended targets.
The plot is unrelated to the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper on site.
Trump and other officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have faced threats from Tehran since ordering the drone strike that killed Qassim Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, in Iraq in 2020.