Last month, a person from Pakistan who is said to have connections with Iran was arrested. He was charged with planning to assassinate former President Donald Trump and other public officials. Although the official court documents don’t mention Trump, several sources told ABC News that he was one of the people the suspect wanted to target. Other potential targets included officials from different political parties.
In a plot straight out of a made-for-TV movie, 46-year-old Asif Merchant was arrested on July 12, the day before Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Merchant has been charged with murder for hire.
Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said that Merchant, working with people from other countries, planned to murder U.S. government officials in the United States.
Prosecutors say that Merchant spent time in Iran before coming to the U.S. He was charged with hiring someone to murder unnamed targets in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York. According to court records, a federal judge ordered him to stay in jail on July 16.
During a press briefing on Thursday, Miller was asked if the U.S. had talked to Pakistani authorities about Merchant’s case. Miller said he didn’t have any updates but stressed that the U.S. will keep protecting its people, including foreign officials, from threats related to Iran. He added that it’s up to the DOJ to handle the case details.
In April, Merchant arrived from Iran and contacted someone to help with his plan, according to officials. This person was a secret informant who told the police about the plot. In early June, Merchant met with the informant again and talked about his plan to carry out the assassination, saying it was something he planned to do more than once.
FBI investigators think that former President Donald Trump, who approved the drone strike on Soleimani, and other current and former U.S. officials were the intended targets of the plot. Court papers don’t name the targets, but Merchant told a police informant that one target would have “security all around.”
By the time Merchant planned to leave the U.S., he had not picked a final target.
Merchant asked for 25 people to help with the killing. He also wanted someone who could make a distraction with a protest afterward and someone else to gather information. By mid-June, he met with people he thought would help with the murders, but they were undercover police officers.
Merchant gave the “hitmen” $5,000 as a down payment for the assassinations and planned to leave the country when the murders happened. Instead, he was arrested on July 12, which was the day he had planned to leave the U.S.
Acting Assistant Director Christie Curtis from the FBI New York Field Office said that the people Merchant tried to hire as assassins were undercover FBI agents. She praised the hard work of agents, analysts, and prosecutors in New York, Houston, and Dallas for stopping Merchant’s plot. She said the agency’s efforts prevented a terrible situation and showed how dedicated the FBI is to protecting America from threats.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said that for a long time, the Justice Department has been working hard to prevent Iran from seeking revenge against American officials for the death of Iranian General Soleimani. He promised that the department would use all its resources to stop and punish anyone trying to follow Iran’s harmful plans against American citizens. Garland also said they won’t allow foreign governments to threaten U.S. officials or national security.
Investigators have not found any link between foreign agents and Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old who was shot after trying to kill Trump at a rally. However, Merchant’s arrest might have caused last-minute security changes at the event.
Pat Young, who leads the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit, said they were first told there would be no Secret Service snipers, but then they were told at the last minute that there would be. This change worried their team because it was unusual for snipers to be assigned to a former president.
How long Merchant could be sentenced depends on his charges and the court’s decision. For planning to pay someone to commit murder, he could face a long prison sentence, possibly even life. The court will decide the exact length of his sentence during his trial.