By An official from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has refuted CNN’s report regarding Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national allegedly linked to the Iranian government and accused of plotting political assassinations in the United States. CNN, referencing unsealed court documents from the Justice Department, had reported that Merchant faced charges related to a plot that prompted heightened security measures for former President Donald Trump and other officials.
In response, an FBI official stated that the investigation had not uncovered any evidence connecting Merchant to the shooting incident in Butler, Pennsylvania. Despite these findings, FBI investigators believe that Trump and other current and former U.S. government officials may have been the intended targets of the alleged plot.
The White House has also noted that no evidence has been found against Merchant at this time, and the investigation remains active as Merchant continues to be held in federal custody. Prosecutors have alleged that Merchant intended to flee the country before carrying out the supposed assassinations but was arrested before his escape.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, have charged Asif Merchant, 46, with traveling to New York City and working with a hitman to plan assassinations set for late August or early September. Merchant was apprehended on July 12 while attempting to leave the United States, shortly after meeting with individuals he believed to be hitmen but who were, in fact, undercover law enforcement officers. The merchant is currently being held in federal custody.
Court documents reveal that Merchant expressed a desire to target certain individuals in the United States whom he alleged were “hurting Pakistan and the world, [the] Muslim world,” emphasizing that they were “not just normal people.”
