WEB DESK
A Pakistani national with purported ties to Iran has been charged for plotting to assassinate former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and multiple other public officials. US Attorney General Merrick Garland, who announced the charges against Pakistani National Asif Merchant yesterday, indicated that the target was former President Trump without naming him.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed in Brooklyn federal court yesterday, after spending time in Iran, Asif Merchant flew from Pakistan to the US in April to recruit hitmen to carry out the alleged plot. The complaint said, the plot failed as the person Merchant contacted was a confidential informant working with the FBI. The court papers said the plot involved multiple elements including stealing documents from a target’s home, planning protests, and killing a politician or government official. The papers said, the Pakistani national was arrested on 12th of July as he was getting ready to catch a flight out of the country.
The revelation about this plot comes less than a month after failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania last month.