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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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Federal law enforcement officials have charged a Pakistani national who allegedly plotted to assassinate a top U.S. politician or official, said to be former President Donald Trump.
Asif Merchant, 46, was arrested while in the process of attempting a murder-for-hire scheme, in which he allegedly paid undercover U.S. agents to arrange meetings with potential hitmen, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in New York.
Merchant, who has purported ties to Iran, travelled to New York City to meet the undercover agents and was arrested before he could flee the country.
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Both CNN and WABC reported the plot was against Trump, though the former president is not mentioned by name in the complaint.
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The complaint against Merchant showed he had frequently traveled to Iran, Syria and Iraq.
Assassination plotted on a napkin
Merchant allegedly began his plot to kill a U.S. official on American soil in April, by telling a new contact, later referred to in the complaint as "CS", that he wanted to do business selling clothing in the country.
Telling CS they could earn up to $100,000 from the opportunity, the pair met up at a hotel in New York in early June, but CS had gone to law enforcement to raise concerns about Merchant and started working as an informant to gather information.
While at the hotel, Merchant told CS that the business opportunity wasn't linked to clothing, before making a "finger gun" motion with his hand, the complaint said.
Merchant then told CS to set up meetings with potential hitmen in New York and that he would share more details of the scheme after. They met up at the hotel again the following day, with Merchant taking CS's phone and placing it in a drawer.
"While in the hotel room, Merchant took out a napkin and placed objects on the napkin to illustrate a potential assassination plot, including a target (the person to be killed), a crowd, surrounding buildings, and streets," the complaint read.
"Merchant began planning potential assassination scenarios on the napkin and quizzed the CS on how he would kill the target in the various scenarios."
Merchant warned CS that the target would be surrounded by security.
Undercover agents hired by Merchant
A few days later in Manhattan, Merchant met two men he believed to be hitmen, but they were in fact undercover FBI agents.
He told the pair that he wanted them to steal documents, arrange protests at political rallies and kill somebody he referred to as a "political person", the complaint said.
Merchant told them that the plot would unfold once he had left the U.S., likely in late August or early September, and outlined a code he would use to communicate with them about their plan.
The suspect paid CS $5,000 in cash for their work, with photos being taken to prove the money had arrived.
Merchant told the undercover agents that he would return to Pakistan before sending further instructions and made plans to leave the U.S. on July 12, but officials arrested him after spotting him packing luggage into a vehicle outside the place he had been staying.
"This dangerous murder-for-hire plot exposed in today's complaint allegedly was orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian playbook," FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a press release.
"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."
Attorney General Merrick Garland, meanwhile, said the Department of Justice would spare no resources in disrupting Iran's plans, while others praised the work of federal agents.
"This case underscores the dedication and formidable efforts of our agents, analysts and prosecutors in New York, Houston, and Dallas," Acting Assistant Director Christie Curtis of the FBI New York Field Office said.
"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."
Merchant remains in federal custody and the FBI is still investigating the case.
The plot unfolded just a few weeks before an attempt on Donald Trump's life at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The young man who fired at Trump in that incident is believed to have been acting alone.
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