Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released FBI documents detailing the Iran-backed assassination plots against Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Nikki Haley, and others.
Iran wanted revenge for the killing of IRGC Officer Qasem Soleimani in 2022.
The DOJ indicted Pakistani national Asif Merchant for trying to perform the assassinations.
“Bad actors are determined to wreak havoc on our country, and American political leaders across both parties are sitting squarely in the crosshairs,” stated Grassley. “In this extraordinarily heightened threat environment, federal agencies ought to be laser focused on building up public trust and reassuring the American people of their efforts to carry out their protective missions. I won’t stop pressing for answers until Congress and the American people are afforded the transparency they deserve.”
The plot took place between April 2024 and July 2024. Merchant tried to hire hitmen in Brooklyn to assassinate the politicians 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.
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.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY