In August of 2024, the Gateway Pundit reported that a Pakistani national named Asif Merchant had been arrested in what was described as a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate President Trump and other U.S. officials:
Merchant’s plan included various criminal activities: stealing documents from a target’s residence, organizing protests, and ultimately assassinating a political figure or government official. He expressed concerns about security measures surrounding potential targets and discussed multiple scenarios for carrying out the assassination.
In mid-June, Merchant met with individuals he believed were hitmen but were actually undercover FBI agents (UCs). During these meetings, he sought their services for theft and assassination and indicated that he would provide instructions on whom to kill after leaving the U.S.
Merchant was just found guilty on all counts.
Pakistani national Asif Merchant — who admitted on the stand that he willingly worked for Iranian intelligence, had an IRGC handler, & agreed to assassinate Trump & others on behalf of the IRGC — was found guilty of the murder-for-hire plot by a NYC jury.https://t.co/Ltkodbqqlf
— Jerry Dunleavy IV
(@JerryDunleavy) March 6, 2026
From FOX News:
Man convicted of Iran-backed Trump assassination plot compared his plan to Butler shooting: FBI
A Pakistani man convicted Friday of plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump and other politicians told an FBI agent he thought Iran “was responsible” for the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Asif Merchant, 47, told the FBI agent, Jacqueline Smith, that the incident “was the same thing he was sent here to do,” Smith testified during Merchant’s trial. Merchant told jurors the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sent him on a “mission” to kill U.S. politicians, including by telling him to attend a Republican rally.
Merchant was arrested July 12, 2024, one day prior to the shooting in Butler, where Thomas Crooks fired several shots into a rally crowd, killing one and grazing Trump’s ear.
The FBI has said repeatedly it found no evidence that Crooks had co-conspirators or that any foreign actors were involved in the incident.
Merchant, who was convicted by a jury of murder-for-hire and attempting to commit terrorism, testified that Trump was not his only target, telling jurors then-President Joe Biden and former presidential candidate Nikki Haley were also on his list…
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that Merchant “landed on American soil hoping to kill President Trump — instead, he was met with the might of American law enforcement.”
Merchant is set to be sentenced at a later hearing. He faces life in prison.
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