The US has charged a Pakistani man, who allegedly has ties to Iran, with attempting to carry out assassinations of American politicians.
Federal prosecutors said Asif Merchant, 46, orchestrated a plot to kill an unidentified politician or US government officials on American soil.
This case has led the US government to increase security for former US President Donald Trump and other officials. While the criminal complaint does not mention Trump explicitly, multiple sources have told reporters that one of the intended targets of the alleged plot was Trump.
Who Is Asif Merchant
Asif Merchant, also known as "Asif Raza Merchant", is a 46-year-old Pakistani national. He has two wives, one each in Pakistan and in Iran, as well as children in both countries.
According to his travel records, Asif frequently travels to Iran, Syria and Iraq, the US Justice Department said.
How Asif plotted
The court papers said the plot involved multiple elements - stealing documents or USB drives from a target's home; planning protests, and killing a politician or government official.
Asif Merchant made up code names for each element in the plot - "tee-shirt" for protests, "flannel shirt" for stealing documents, "fleece jacket" for the assassination, and "yarn-dye" for their meetings.
To entice the person he contacted first, who informed officials, Merchant told him he had an uncle in the "yarn-dyed" business in Pakistan and he could go into business with them.
For his plans, Asif Merchant hired people he thought were hitmen, but who were actually undercover agents. He asked one government source he believed was an assassin for hire to explain how "the target" would die in different scenarios.
How his plot failed
Asif Merchant's plot failed because he tried to recruit FBI agents for the assassination attempt.
He was arrested on July 12 as he was getting ready to catch a flight out of the country.
In mid-June, Merchant met with people he thought were hitmen. They were undercover US law enforcement officers (the UCs) in New York.
He told them he wanted them to steal documents, arrange protests at political rallies, and kill a "political person".
The plot would have to be carried out after he left the country, and they would be told who the target was either in the last week of August or the first week of September, Merchant told the undercover officers.
Merchant arranged to pay USD 5,000 in cash as an advance for the assassination services and successfully delivered this payment on June 21.
Following this transaction, he made plans to leave the country on July 12, 2024, one day before Donald Trump's assassination attempt. However, law enforcement intervened and arrested him before he could leave, the court document said.
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