The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged a man linked to the Iranian government for plotting to carry out political assassinations in the U.S. — and FBI officials reportedly believe former President Donald Trump was one of the targets, a U.S. official briefed on the subject told CNN on Tuesday.
An indictment was unsealed in a New York court on Tuesday against Asif Merchant, a 46-year-old Pakistani national with ties to the Iranian government, who is accused of working in a “murder for hire” plot to “assassinate a politician or U.S. government official on U.S. soil,” according to court documents and a DOJ press release. FBI officials believe that Merchant intended to assassinate Trump but foiled his plans before he could act, the official told CNN. (RELATED: Rocket Attack Against Military Base In Iraq Injured ‘Several’ US Personnel, Officials Say)
The plot is “straight out of the Iranian playbook,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement on Tuesday. “A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any U.S. citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI.”
TOPSHOT – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gives a press conference after casting his ballot for the parliamentary runoff elections in Tehran on May 10, 2024. (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)
There is no known connection between Merchant’s plot and the assassination attempt against Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, a law enforcement official told CNN. Trump was nearly killed by a gunman at the rally in what was decried as a catastrophic security “failure” by the U.S. Secret Service.
Merchant spent time in Iran and told law enforcement he had a family in the country, according to the DOJ. He traveled from the U.S. to Pakistan in April 2024 and “contacted a person he believed could assist him” with the assassination plot.
That person reported Merchant’s behavior and agreed to act as a “confidential source” for law enforcement, according to the DOJ. Merchant met with the source in June 2024 and outlined his plan, which included stealing files from a “target’s home,” orchestrating a protest and killing a U.S. government official or politician.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 30: The US Flag flies above a sign marking the US Department of Justice (DOJ) headquarters building on January 20, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Photo by J. David Ake/Getty Images)
Merchant told the source that the assassination would occur after he left the U.S., noting that he had spoken to an unidentified party “back home” to “finalize the plans, according to the DOJ. After meeting with undercover officers who he believed to be hit men, arranging payments for the hit and securing flight plans, Merchant was arrested in July “before he could leave the country.”
The DOJ statement does not identify which politicians and U.S. officials Merchant was targeting. But the FBI believes that Trump was a target, among other current and former officials, the official speaking on condition of anonymity told CNN.
The Islamic Republic has long sought revenge against Trump and some in his orbit over the 2020 U.S. assassination of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the former leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a famous figure among the Iranian public. After catching Merchant, the FBI passed along information about his plot to the Secret Service, which subsequently strengthened security protections for Trump.
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