Suspect Asif Merchant
Source: Africa Publicity
A 46-year-old Pakistani Citizen, Asif Merchant, has reportedly been charged with plotting to kill former President Donald Trump and several other US public officials.
The suspect, according to the US Justice Department, has ties with Iran.
The Department said on Tuesday, August 6, 2024 that the Pakistani national attempted to carry out the political assassinations on U.S. soil.
Asif Merchant, says the Department, traveled to New York in April for the purpose of hiring hitmen, even paying a $5,000 advance to two would-be assassins who were actually undercover law enforcement officers.
Reports say he was arrested in July this year before he could leave the U.S. and the plot was foiled by the FBI.
Court documents do not identify any of the potential targets, but the case was unsealed just weeks after U.S. officials disclosed that a threat on Mr. Trump’s life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before a Pennsylvania rally last month in which Trump was injured by a gunman’s bullet.
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