Pakistani citizen accused of conspiracy to assassinate Trump and other government officials

A Pakistani citizen with alleged connections to Iran was apprehended last month on allegations he conspired to eliminate former President Donald Trump and various other government officials, as per a legal report unveiled Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court.

Although the legal report does not directly mention Trump, multiple informants familiar with the case informed ABC News that Trump was one of the planned targets of the alleged scheme. The informants stated that other potential targets included officials from both political parties.

After his time in Iran, Asif Merchant flew from Pakistan to the U.S. to enlist assassins to execute the supposed plot, according to a memo on detention. The individual he reached out to turned out to be a confidential informant cooperating with the FBI, as per the legal complaint.

Merchant, 46, is accused of murder for hire.

Asif was apprehended on July 12, one day before Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear.

“For years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran’s bold and relentless efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Soleimani,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against American citizens, and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America’s national security.”

In April, Merchant arrived from Iran and reached out to someone to aid in his scheme, as per officials. The individual turned out to be a confidential informant who reported the details to law enforcement, according to the Justice Department. Merchant purportedly met with the informant again in early June and detailed the assassination plot, mentioning it was “not a one-time opportunity,” officials stated.

“Specifically, Merchant requested individuals who could carry out the assassination, around 25 people who could stage a protest as a distraction after the killing, and a woman to conduct ‘reconnaissance,'” the complaint mentioned.

By mid-June, he met with the individuals he believed would execute the hits — who were actually undercover law enforcement officers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Merchant even paid the supposed hitmen $5,000 as an advance for the assassinations before making arrangements to depart the country when the killings occurred, officials stated. Instead, he was apprehended on July 12, the day he planned to leave the U.S.

A final target had not been chosen by the time Merchant made plans to depart the U.S., according to officials.

Investigators have stated that there is no connection between foreign operatives and Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old who was shot and killed after attempting to assassinate Trump from a rooftop near the stage, but the arrest may help clarify some last-minute adjustments to rally security.

“We were initially informed that there were no Secret Service snipers present but that changed either Thursday or Friday to indicate that there were,” Pat Young, head of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit, told ABC News. “We were told that this is the first