Pakistani accused of ordering assassination of US politicians, potentially including Trump

A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran has been charged in a complex plot to assassinate current and former government officials, potentially including former President Donald Trump.

Asif Merchant, 46, has been charged with murder for hire after prosecutors say he paid $5,000 to an undercover FBI agent he believed was a hit man and discussed an elaborate plan to kill a political figure who Merchant said would be surrounded by bodyguards.

The complaint did not name the alleged target or targets, but a senior law enforcement official said Trump was one potential target of the plot.

“The dangerous assassination plot revealed in today’s charges was allegedly 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 statement.

Merchant was arrested as he tried to leave the country the day before Trump was shot in Pennsylvania on July 13. Authorities do not believe there is any connection between the plot and the attempted bombing that left the shooter and a member of the crowd dead.

NBC News previously reported that the U.S. had received information that Iran was planning to kill Trump as part of its revenge campaign against officials involved in the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force.

A law enforcement official told NBC News that Merchant’s plot, first uncovered in April, was one factor that prompted the Secret Service to beef up security around Trump.

Asked Tuesday about the heightened security around Trump in the weeks leading up to the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, a Secret Service spokesman said: “The Secret Service and other agencies continually receive and assess new potential threat intelligence, including regarding Iranian lethal plots, and we take action to adjust resources as needed. We cannot comment on any specific threat stream, other than to say that the Secret Service takes threats seriously and responds appropriately.”

According to court documents, Merchant traveled to Texas in April after spending time in Iran. The documents say he contacted someone he believed could help him with the criminal scheme, but that person reported him to law enforcement.

The FBI then launched a provocative operation.

According to court documents, in June, Merchant traveled from Texas to New York to meet with a trusted FBI source and tell him he had three separate goals: stealing documents or USB drives from the victim’s home, organizing a protest and killing a politician or government official.

Merchant allegedly told the secret source that “the people who will be attacked are those who are harming Pakistan and the world, the (Muslim) world. They are not just ordinary people,” and apparently made a gesture with his finger as if he was using a weapon.

Merchant said he was working for “people overseas,” according to court documents, and said they told him to finalize plans to hire a hit man. On June 10, Merchant allegedly met in New York with undercover law enforcement officers posing as hit men.

According to court documents, he also created a code allowing the group to communicate and paid undercover officers $5,000 to let them know they would continue their activities.

Merchant allegedly planned to leave the U.S. on July 12. The FBI arrested him that day at his Texas home and conducted a search.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Iranians were brazenly and persistently planning to assassinate former Trump administration officials.

“I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this,” he said. “I expect we’ll hear more.”