Pakistani Man Charged with Plot to Assassinate Trump & US Officials

A Pakistani national with purported ties to Iran was arrested in the US in July on charges of plotting to assassinate former President Donald Trump and several other public officials, revealed the criminal complaint against him unsealed on Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court, reported ABC News.

Sources familiar with the case told ABC News that one of the intended targets of the alleged plot was Trump. Other possible targets included government officials.

The accused Asif Merchant, 46, flew from Pakistan to the US after spending time in Iran. He was to recruit hitmen to carry out the alleged plot, according to a detention memo, reported ABC News.

But the person he contacted was a confidential informant working with the FBI. Merchant is charged with murder for hire.

Asif was arrested July 12, one day prior to Trump’s July 13 rally in Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear.

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. Instead, he was arrested on July 12, on the day he planned to leave the U.S.

Fortunately, the assassins Merchant allegedly tried to hire were undercover FBI Agents.