Pakistani man arrested over alleged Trump assassination plot

A Pakistani national was arrested on July 12 for allegedly plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump and other public officials on American soil.

FBI Director Christopher Wray — whose agency otherwise proved unable to prevent a one-time Democratic donor from shooting Trump, murdering a father of two, and injuring others at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania — joined Biden's Attorney General Merrick Garland this week in suggesting that the alleged plot was "straight out of the Iranian playbook."

Garland intimated that the alleged plotter, 46-year-old Asif Raza Merchant, was seeking to avenge the death of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian terrorist and commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who was snuffed out by an American airstrike at Iraq's Baghdad airport on Jan. 2, 2020.

Trump, who authorized the airstrike, insisted at the time that he had taken action "to stop a war," not to start one. Nevertheless, senior Iranian officials and commanders subsequently indicated that "revenge for martyr Soleimani's blood is certain, and the murderers and perpetrators will have no easy sleep."

According to the criminal complaint, Merchant — a bigamist who apparently has a wife and children in Iran and a wife and children in Pakistan — traveled from Pakistan to the U.S. in April. Upon arrival, Merchant allegedly attempted to recruit individuals to help him execute his assassination plot.

One individual Merchant apparently figured would make for a reliable accomplice promptly reported the scheme to law enforcement officials and became a confidential source.

Merchant allegedly met with the confidential source in June and explained that what he had in mind was "not a one-time opportunity and would be ongoing" and further that he had multiple targets in mind.

Although the criminal complaint does not name the intended targets, sources familiar with the case told ABC News that Trump was among them.

The scheme apparently involved having a woman perform "reconnaissance," having hit men to do the killing, and having roughly 25 people to stage a protest after the murder occurred.

The confidential source ultimately introduced Merchant to two undercover law enforcement officers posing as hit men whom the Pakistani national allegedly paid $5,000 for the assassination as well as for orchestrating the protest and theft of certain documents.

"Fortunately, the assassins Merchant allegedly tried to hire were undercover FBI Agents," Acting Assistant Director Christie Curtis of the FBI New York field office said in a statement.

After paying the undercover officers their due and confirming the plan would proceed, Merchant set about leaving the country on July 12, said the complaint. Law enforcement swooped in and arrested Merchant after observing him toss his luggage into the trunk of a vehicle outside his residence.

Merchant has been charged with one count of murder for hire.

'The failure of the Secret Service in Butler, Pennsylvania, is even more outrageous in light of suspected Iranian-backed assassins targeting former Trump administration officials, including President Trump himself.'

"For years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran’s brazen and unrelenting efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Soleimani," said Garland.

"The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against American citizens and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America’s national security," added the attorney general.

Despite reports that this foiled plot prompted the U.S. Secret Service to increase security around Trump — having previously denied him adequate security for the two years leading up to the Butler shooting — it's clear from the agency's performance at the president's fateful July 13 rally, just one day after Merchant's July 12 arrest, they weren't in a rush to make meaningful adjustments.

Blaze News previously reported, for instance, that the radios provided by local law enforcement to the Secret Service for cross-agency communication were apparently never used; that the Secret Service allegedly "repeatedly denied offers from a local law enforcement partner to utilize drone technology to secure the rally"; and that Trump's security detail that day was not only relatively thin but allegedly composed in part of inexperienced Department of Homeland Security agents.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement Tuesday, "The failure of the Secret Service in Butler, Pennsylvania, is even more outrageous in light of suspected Iranian-backed assassins targeting former Trump administration officials, including President Trump himself. That day, the threat of sniper attacks was even higher than normal."

"I was previously briefed concerning the Iranian threat and the circumstances of Mr. Merchant's arrest and questioned then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on whether she had reviewed the intelligence concerning the Iranian threat," continued Turner. "She confirmed to me that she read the intelligence and was aware of this Iranian murder-for-hire plot."

"Director Cheatle acknowledged she knew the threat and still did not provide President Trump the protection he needed, almost costing him his life," added the Ohio congressman.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!