The Department of Justice announced charges against Asif Merchant, 46, a Pakistani man with ties to Iran, for trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump and other government officials..
Officials said the investigation took place before Thomas Matthews Crooks shot Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.
FBI Special Agent Anthony Cipriano and other assets tracked Merchant and others undercover, finding him working with national and international sources to assassinate Trump in retaliation for the killing of IRGC Officer Qasem Soleimani in 2022.
Iran promised revenge after a drone strike took out Soleimani.
“Working on behalf of others overseas, Merchant planned the murder of U.S. government officials on American soil,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. “This prosecution demonstrates that this Office and the entire Department of Justice will take swift and decisive action to protect our nation’s security, our government officials and our citizens from foreign threats.”
Merchant lives in Pakistan with a wife and children. He also said he has a wife and children in Iran.
Merchant’s travel records show frequent stops in Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
The plot took place between April 2024 and July 2024. Merchant tried to hire hitmen in Brooklyn to carry out the assassination between August and September.
Merchant contacted a person who told the FBI about the plans and became a confidential source (CS) with the FBI.
Merchant told the CS he spent two weeks in Iran before he flew to the U.S.
The CS then put Merchant in touch with two supposed hitmen.
The plot involved three schemes:
Merchant illustrated the assassination plot, “including a target (the person to be killed), a crowd, surrounding buildings, and streets.” Merchant wanted the CS to tell him how the target could die, explaining that security would surround the target.
Merchant said the killing would take place after he left the States, but they would still communicate in code.
The CS asked the Merchant to speak to his “party” overseas. Merchant said, “that the party back home told him to ‘finalize’ the plan and leave the U.S.”
The CS put Merchant in charge of the “hitmen” in Manhattan. Merchant laid out the plan to the men.
Merchant acted as a representative for an outside party the whole time, “indicating that there were other people he worked for outside the U.S.”
“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 first week of August 2024 or the first week of September 2024, when Merchant was out of the U.S.,” according to the filing.
Merchant paid the men a downpayment of $5,000.
Merchant went back to Pakistan, but came back around June 21.
Law enforcement arrested Merchant around July 12 as he tried to leave the country.
“The complaint unsealed today underscores, yet again, that those who engage in lethal plotting on U.S. soil will face the full force of the American justice system,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the National Security Division. “The targeting of former and current officials by foreign actors is an affront to our sovereignty and our democratic institutions and the Department of Justice will use every possible tool to expose and disrupt this egregious activity.”
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