A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran who was previously arrested as part of a scheme to assassinate prominent U.S. government officials has been charged with additional crimes of terrorism and murder-for-hire, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.
Asif Merchant, 46, was indicted Tuesday in the Eastern District of New York on charges of attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries and murder-for-hire as part of a scheme to assassinate a politician or U.S. government official on U.S. soil, the DOJ said in a news release.
In July, he was arrested on an interstate murder-for-hire charge, and he is in federal custody. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Although court records did not name the targets of Merchant's alleged plot, FBI records obtained by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, through whistleblower disclosures reportedly revealed American "politicians, military people or bureaucrats," including former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, were the targets. The plot was said to be in retaliation for Trump ordering a drone strike that killed Iranian terrorist Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq on Jan. 3, 2020.
"The Justice Department will not tolerate Iran's efforts to target our country's public officials and endanger our national security," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the news release. "As these terrorism and murder-for-hire charges against Asif Merchant demonstrate, we will continue to hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran's lethal plotting against Americans."
According to court records, Merchant arrived in the U.S. in April from Pakistan after spending time in Iran. He contacted a person he believed could assist him with the scheme and that person reported Merchant's conduct to law enforcement and became a confidential source.
In early June, Merchant met the confidential source in New York and said the plot involved multiple criminal schemes: stealing documents or USB drives from a target's home, planning a protest, and killing a politician or government official. Merchant said the assassination would occur after he left the U.S. and that he would communicate with the confidential source from overseas using code words, according to records.
The confidential source asked whether Merchant had spoken to a "party" back home with whom Merchant was working. Merchant responded he had and that the party back home told him to "finalize" the plan and leave the U.S., records indicated.
In mid-June, court records said Merchant met with the purported hit men, who were undercover law enforcement officers in New York. Merchant advised them he was looking for them to steal documents, arrange protests at political rallies, and kill a "political person."
Merchant said they would receive instructions on whom to kill either the last week of August or the first week of September, after Merchant departed the U.S. Merchant then began arranging means to obtain $5,000 in cash to give the undercover officers as an advance payment for the assassination, which he received with assistance from an individual overseas, records stated.
Merchant made flight arrangements and planned to leave the U.S. on July 12, but he was arrested before he could flee the country.
"This dangerous murder-for-hire plot was allegedly orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian regime's playbook," said FBI Director Christopher Wray in the news release.
"A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any U.S. citizen, is a serious threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI. Protecting Americans from terrorists remains our highest priority."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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