A Pakistani immigrant with alleged ties to Iran plotted to hire hitmen to assassinate former President Donald Trump and other US politicians, according to sources and a federal criminal complaint.
Asif Merchant, 46, is accused of planning political assassinations in New York City in August or early September, and paid men he believed to be contract killers advance payments of $5,000, according to US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace.
Trump was among several current and former US government officials believed to be potential targets of the plot, a source familiar with the investigation told The Post.
Merchant travelled to New York in June to meet with the supposed hitmen – who turned out to be undercover law enforcement officers – and told them he was arranging the funds with a contact overseas, according to the US Attorney’s office.
Days later he came up with the cash in advance, and allegedly told the undercover agents they were going forward with the plot, prosecutors alleged.
The next month as he was preparing to leave the US on July 12, he was arrested.
After being detained, Merchant revealed that he had a wife and children living in Iran, and also a wife and children living in Pakistan, according to prosecutors.
One of Merchant’s homes is in the Iranian capital of Tehran, according to prosecutors.
Merchant’s alleged Iran-backed plot played a role in the Secret Service agreeing to bolster former president Donald Trump’s security detail before the July assassination attempt, sources told The Post.
Authorities said Iranian-tied plot is unrelated to the attempt on Trump’s life by Thomas Crooks, who opened fire from a roof top in Butler, Pennsylvania.
