A 46-year-old Pakistani national has been charged in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate a US politician and official, possibly former President Trump. The Justice Department alleges that Asif Merchant hired undercover FBI agents as hit men and planned to recruit actors to stage a fake protest as a diversion.
By Associated Press and Fox News Staff
July 13, 2024
Pakistani National Charged in Foiled Plot to Assassinate US Officials, DOJ Announces
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A Pakistani national has been charged in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate a US politician and official, possibly former President Trump, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday.
Asif Merchant, 46, was arrested in Texas on July 12 and charged with murder for hire. According to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn, Merchant conspired to kill a "specific high-ranking U.S. politician and government official" and planned to pay hit men $5,000 for the job.
Pakistani National Charged in Foiled Plot to Assassinate US Officials, DOJ Announces
The complaint alleges that Merchant, who has family in Iran, first traveled to Iran and then to the US, where he approached a confidential source, referred to as "CS," to discuss his plans. He provided CS with a $5,000 advance payment to give to the assassins, according to court documents.
"Fortunately, the assassins Merchant tried to hire were undercover FBI agents," acting Assistant Director Christie Curtis, of the FBI New York Field Office, said in a statement.
Pakistani National Charged in Foiled Plot to Assassinate US Officials, DOJ Announces
Merchant allegedly planned to scout clubs in New York City to recruit other conspirators and used clothing items as code words for different parts of the crime. T-shirts referred to the "lightest work," which would be the fake protest, while flannel shirts represented stealing documents and a fleece jacket represented the "heaviest work" - murder.
Investigators said Merchant's potential targets included people on "both sides" of the political aisle and that the hit men were to be told of their official target at the end of August or first week of September.
Pakistani National Charged in Foiled Plot to Assassinate US Officials, DOJ Announces
Merchant allegedly told CS, "people who will be targeted are the ones who are hurting Pakistan and the world, [the] Muslim world. These are not normal people."
A spokesperson for Iran's mission to the United Nations said diplomats had not been briefed on the matter by American officials but noted that the modus operandi in question contradicts the Iranian Government's policy of legally prosecuting the murderer of General Soleimani.
Pakistani National Charged in Foiled Plot to Assassinate US Officials, DOJ Announces
Tom Crooks, the 20-year-old Pennsylvania man who opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, injuring the former president and two spectators and killing a third man before counter-snipers took him down, is not believed to be connected to Merchant.
The arrest of Merchant comes amid heightened security concerns following the 2020 airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a terrorist responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and allied troops. The Justice Department has been working to counter Iran's efforts to retaliate against US officials for the killing of Soleimani.
Pakistani National Charged in Foiled Plot to Assassinate US Officials, DOJ Announces
In 2022, federal prosecutors charged another Iranian agent with trying to have former White House national security adviser John Bolton killed for $300,000.
Merchant is facing a federal murder for hire charge and was being transferred from Texas to New York, where he is expected to be detained without bail.
Pakistani National Charged in Foiled Plot to Assassinate US Officials, DOJ Announces
