
A Pakistani man was found guilty on Friday of orchestrating a chilling plot to assassinate President Donald Trump and other prominent U.S. political figures. The Department of Justice announced that Asif Merchant was acting at the behest of Iran, with the scheme unfolding two years ago.
Per Reuters, Merchant was convicted on charges of “murder for hire and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries,” a plot directly linked to Iranian authorities. Federal prosecutors detailed that the targets for this 2024 plot included Trump, then-President Joe Biden, and Nikki Haley, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination that year.