US arrests man with alleged Iran ties for plotting to assassinate Trump
The goal of Merchant's plot was to target those in the US who were " hurting Pakistan and the world, [the] Muslim world."
A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran has been charged in the United States for being connected to a foiled plot to assassinate a US politician or government officials, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.
FBI investigators believed that former US president Donald Trump and other current and former US government officials were the intended targets of the plot, CNN reported, citing a US official.
Asif Merchant, 46, faces a charge of murder for hire in New York federal court.
According to the CNN report, Merchant was arrested last month in July while attempting to leave the US after he met with hitmen who he believed would be able to carry out the murders.
However, it turned out that the hitmen were actually undercover law enforcement officers, and Merchant had told them that he wanted to kill a “political person in late August or early September.”
Merchant was then put into federal custody.
A targetted plan
The goal of Merchant's plot was to target those in the US who were "hurting Pakistan and the world, [the] Muslim world," the CNN report said, citing the court documents.
Merchant reportedly sought to involve around 25 people in his plot, including men for the actual assassinations, a woman for reconnaissance, and others to stage protests as distractions.
Attorney General Merrick Garland emphasized that the US will not tolerate foreign threats to its officials in a Tuesday statement.
Trump was previously shot at in July during an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally. The shooter was then neutralized and identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
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