A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran is accused of plotting to assassinate current and former government officials, including former President Donald Trump.
Asif Merchant, 46, faces a crime-for-hire charge after prosecutors say he paid $5,000 to an undercover FBI agent he believed to be murdered and discussed an elaborate plot with him to target a political figure Merchant said would be besieged. security.
The complaint did not name the alleged target or targets, but a senior law enforcement official said Trump was one of the potential targets of the plot.
“This dangerous, murder-for-hire plot revealed in today’s indictments is allegedly orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and falls directly outside Iran’s playbook,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The businessman was arrested while trying to leave the country on July 13, the day before Trump was shot dead in Pennsylvania, and officials do not believe there was any connection between the plot and the crime. attempted assassinationthe shooter and a member of the crowd were killed.
This was previously reported by NBC News The United States has received information that Iran is preparing to kill Trump As part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ revenge campaign against officials involved in the targeted killing of Quds Force commander General Qassem Soleimani.
A law enforcement official told NBC News that Merchant’s plot, first revealed in April, was one of the factors that prompted the Secret Service to tighten security around Trump.
Asked about heightened security around Trump in the weeks before the Butler, Pennsylvania shooting on Tuesday, a Secret Service spokesman said: “The Secret Service and other agencies are constantly receiving and evaluating new potential threat information about Iran’s deadly plans. , and we take steps to adjust resources as needed. “We cannot comment on any specific threat stream other than to say that the Secret Service is taking threats seriously and responding accordingly.”
According to court documents, Merchant traveled to Texas in April after spending time in Iran. He contacted a person he believed could help him with the criminal scheme, but that person turned him in to law enforcement, the documents say.
After that, the FBI began an operation.
In June, court documents say Merchant traveled from Texas to New York to meet with an undercover FBI source and told him he had three separate goals: steal documents or USB drives from the target’s home; planning a protest; and killing a politician or public official.
The trader told a confidential source that “the people who will be targeted are those who are harming Pakistan and the world. [the] Muslim world. These aren’t just normal people,” and apparently moved his finger like he was using a gun.
The merchant said he worked for “people overseas,” according to court documents, and said he was told to complete plans to hire a hit man. On June 10, Merchant met with undercover law enforcement officers posing as assassins for hire in New York.
He also created a code for the group to talk to and paid undercover law enforcement officers $5,000 to let them know they were coming forward, according to court documents.
The businessman was allegedly planning to leave the US on July 12, and the FBI arrested and searched him at his home in Texas that day.
In an exclusive interview with NBC News last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Iranians were brazen and insists on a plan to assassinate former Trump administration officials.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the end of it,” he said. “I expect we’ll hear more.”