(NEW YORK) — A Pakistani national with purported ties to Iran was arrested last month on charges he plotted to assassinate former President Donald Trump and multiple other public officials, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court.
While the criminal complaint does not mention Trump by name, multiple sources familiar with the case told ABC News one of the intended targets of the alleged plot was Trump. Other possible targets included government officials from both sides of the aisle, the sources said.
After spending time in Iran, Asif Merchant flew from Pakistan to the U.S. to recruit hitmen to carry out the alleged plot, according to a detention memo. The person he contacted was a confidential informant working with the FBI, according to the criminal complaint.
Merchant, 46, is charged with murder for hire.
Asif was arrested July 12, one day prior Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear.
“For years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran’s brazen and unrelenting efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Soleimani,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against American citizens, and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America’s national security.”
Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, added, “Working on behalf of others overseas, Merchant planned the murder of U.S. government officials on American soil.”
In April, Merchant arrived from Iran and contacted someone to help with his plot, according to officials. The person ended up being a confidential source who reported the information to law enforcement, according to the Justice Department. Merchant allegedly again met up with the source in early June and explained the assassination plot and said it was “not a one-time opportunity,” officials said.
“Specifically, Merchant requested men who could do the killing, approximately 25 people who could perform a protest as a distraction after the murder occurred, and a woman to do ‘reconnaissance,"” the complaint said.
By mid-June, he met up with the people he thought would carry out the hits — but who were actually undercover law enforcement officials, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Merchant even paid the apparent hitmen $5,000 as an advance on the assassinations before making plans to leave the country when the killings took place, officials said. Instead, he was arrested on July 12, the date he planned to leave the U.S.
“Fortunately, the assassins Merchant allegedly tried to hire were undercover FBI Agents,” acting Assistant Director Christie Curtis of the FBI New York Field Office said in a statement. “This case underscores the dedication and formidable efforts of our agents, analysts and prosecutors in New York, Houston, and Dallas. Their success in neutralizing this threat not only prevented a tragic outcome but also reaffirms the FBI’s commitment to protecting our nation and its citizens from both domestic and international threats.”
A final target had not been selected by the time Merchant made arrangements to fly out of the U.S., according to officials.
Investigators have said they’ve found no link between foreign operatives and Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old shot and killed after he tried to assassinate Trump from a rooftop near the stage, but the arrest may help explain some last-minute adjustments to rally security.
“We were initially told that there was no Secret Service snipers coming but that was shifted either Thursday or Friday to indicate that there were,” Pat Young, head of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit, told ABC News. “We had been told that this is the first time that a non-sitting president had been allocated Secret Service snipers. So that threw up some alarm bells for some of our guys that — why the sudden shift — from one stance to the other?”
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