According to an indictment unsealed Tuesday by the Department of Justice, a Pakistani national with alleged ties to the Iranian government was charged with one count of Murder for Hire as part of a political assassination plot that targeted former President Donald Trump and other current and former government officials.
Asif Merchant, 46, is accused of traveling to New York City and working with a hit man to carry out the assassinations in late August or early September, according to charges filed by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York.
Merchant was arrested on July 12 while preparing to leave the United States, prosecutors said, shortly after he met with purported hitmen who he believed would carry the murders but were actually undercover law enforcement officers. He is in federal custody.
The FBI was investigating Merchant and his alleged murder-for-hire plot for…
