A Pakistani man allegedly tied to Iran was arrested and charged in a potential assassination plot against former President Donald Trump and serval United States officials.
An unsealed criminal complaint reveals that Asif Merchant, 46, has been charged with “murder-for-hire” relating to an alleged plot to “assassinate a politician or U.S. government officials,” according to a press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) suspect Merchant was targeting Trump and other politicians in the U.S. government.
“For years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran’s brazen and unrelenting efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Soleimani,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, continuing:
The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against American citizens, and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America’s national security.
Merchant reportedly began “a plot to assassinate U.S. government officials on U.S. soil” around April 2024 “after spending time in Iran,” according to the criminal complaint.
The criminal complaint claims that Merchant traveled to the U.S. to “recruit individuals” to assist him in carrying out his assassination plot.
“While in the U.S., MERCHANT contacted a person he believed could assist him with the criminal scheme,” the complaint continues. “That person in fact reported MERCHANT’s conduct to law enforcement and became a confidential source [CS] working with law enforcement.”
Merchant also allegedly asked the confidential source to help him find and hire hitmen to carry out the plot.
At the beginning of June, Merchant allegedly met with the confidential source at a hotel in Nassau County, New York, where the source was informed that he had an “opportunity” that was “not a one-time opportunity and would be ongoing”:
On or about June 3, 2024, MERCHANT flew from Texas to LaGuardia Airport in New York. The CS picked up MERCHANT from the airport and drove him to a hotel in Nassau County, New York. While at the hotel, MERCHANT told the CS that the opportunity he had for the CS was not a one-time opportunity and would be ongoing. MERCHANT then made a “finger gun” motion with his hand, indicating that the opportunity was related to a killing. MERCHANT subsequently took the CS’s cellphone and put it in a drawer for security reasons, so they could discuss the plan. MERCHANT stated that he would give the CS more details about the plan the next day but that he needed the CS to arrange a meeting for MERCHANT to meet hitmen in New York.
Merchant later allegedly explained that his assassination plot involved “three different criminal schemes,” according to the criminal complaint. The first involved “stealing documents or USB drives from a target’s home,” and the second part involved “planning a protest.” The third part of Merchant’s plot scheme involved “killing a politician or government official.”
Along with requesting hitmen “who could do the killing,” Merchant reportedly requested “approximately twenty-five people who could perform a protest as a distraction after the murder occurred” and for a “woman to do ‘reconnaissance'” work, according to the criminal complaint.
The criminal complaint states:
Using the plural tense to indicate he was working with people overseas, MERCHANT stated that “we” would give the instructions, including the target name, to the hitmen either the last week of August 2024 or the first week of September 2024, when MERCHANT was out of the U.S.
Merchant was arrested and taken into custody on July 12 as he was attempting to leave the country, according to the press release.
The unsealing of the criminal complaint comes weeks after an assassination attempt on Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
It was previously reported that U.S. officials had received information regarding a potential assassination plot on Trump from Iran, and, in response, his security detail was reportedly increased.
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