Pakistani man with ties to Iran is charged in plot to carry out political assassinations on US soil

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pakistani man alleged to have ties to Iran has been charged in a plot to carry out political assassinations on U.S. soil, including potentially of former President Donald Trump.

The case disclosed by the Justice Department on Tuesday is the latest murder-for-hire plot originating from abroad to target American public figures, coming two years after officials disrupted a separate scheme that they said was aimed at former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton.

Asif Merchant traveled to New York in June for the purpose of meeting with men he thought he was recruiting to carry out the killings, even paying a $5,000 advance to two would-be assassins who were actually undercover law enforcement officers, federal officials said. He was arrested last month as he prepared to leave the U.S. and after having told the men that he would provide further instructions, including the names of the intended targets, in August or September after he returned to Pakistan.

Court documents do not identify any of the potential targets. But U.S. officials acknowledged last month that a threat on Donald Trump’s life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before a Pennsylvania rally in which Trump was injured by a gunman’s bullet. That July 13 shooting, carried out by a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, was unrelated to the Iran threat and Merchant’s arrest has no connection to the Trump assassination attempt, a law enforcement official said.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true»