A Pakistani man with ties to Iran has been charged in an apparent plot to potentially assassinate former President Donald Trump, as well as other government officials from both political parties, federal sources told Fox News.
The criminal complaint for Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national, does not mention any politicians by name, but according to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the assassination plot is in response to the 2020 killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was killed in a drone strike ordered by former President Trump.
Officials said Merchant was in federal custody and visited Iran two weeks before traveling to the US in April.
Trump reacted to Merchant’s arrest on Fox and Friends, saying “I’ll tell you this. I’m in a very dangerous business. Being president is a dangerous thing. And especially when you are an active president, when you’re somebody that wants to make our country secure, when you want to build a strong military.”
US officials have said this is unrelated to the attempted assassination of Trump on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was shot and a retired fire chief, Corey Comperatore was killed. Federal agents had arrested Merchant one day prior to the attack on Trump.
Investigators allege Merchant had sketched out assassination scenarios on a napkin in a New York City hotel room and told a confidential informant his targets hurt Pakistan and the Muslim world.
Court documents show the assassinations were planned for the end of this month or the start of next month.
FOX’s Nate Foy joined LiveNOW from FOX’s Josh Breslow with the latest information.
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