A Pakistani national with purported ties to Iran was arrested last month on charges he plotted to assassinate former President Donald Trump and multiple other public officials, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court.
While the criminal complaint does not mention Trump by name, multiple sources familiar with the case told ABC News one of the intended targets of the alleged plot was Trump. Other possible targets included government officials from both sides of the aisle, the sources said.
After spending time in Iran, Asif Merchant flew from Pakistan to the U.S. to recruit hitmen to carry out the alleged plot, according to a detention memo. The person he contacted was a confidential informant working with the FBI, according to the criminal complaint.
Merchant, 46, is charged with murder for hire.
I’m not buying much, if any, of this story. The FBI has been known to groom potential ‘terrorists’, catch them before they can act, and then toot their own horns for a job well done. And by groom, I mean nudging unstable people towards extremism and providing them weapons, vehicles, dates, etc. to carry out an attack.
Knowing that the FBI does the things I mentioned also leads to a disturbing question: how many successful mass attacks in the US were the result of FBI involvement? Is it a nonzero number?