New York — While the United States fights the expansion of… War in IranUS prosecutors air allegations that Iran Paramilitary Revolutionary Guard He was tangled in Thwarting the 2024 assassination plot Which was looking forward to the candidate at the time Donald Trump As a potential target.
The alleged scheme lies at the heart of A Criminal trial Which began in federal court in New York last week, days before the fighting in the Middle East now looms in the background.
“This trial is taking place at interesting times,” Judge Eric Cometti told lawyers this week in the case of Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national accused of trying to hire hit men to kill an American politician. Merchant did not name a target but searched online for locations of Trump rallies, according to prosecutors, who presented evidence Tuesday that Merchant’s laptop contained photos of both Trump and then-President Joe Biden at a time when they were contenders for the presidency.
An FBI agent testified Tuesday that Merchant told her he had a “handler” for the Guard and believed the handler would help fund the plan. The merchant’s lawyer indicated that the alleged statements may not be accurate.
Merchant, 47, has pleaded not guilty to attempted terrorism and other charges. His lawyers say prosecutors are trying to incorporate evidence into an inappropriate narrative.
The merchant has children in Iran and has traveled there. His lawyers have portrayed his trips as religious pilgrimages and family time. But federal authorities have long indicated that he has ties to Iran’s theocracy.
When Merchant was indicted in 2024, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said the case was “straight outside the Iranian regime’s playbook.” Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland portrayed it as an example of Iran’s “deadly plot against Americans.”
In court on Tuesday, an FBI agent opened a window — albeit a narrow and restrictive one — on the government’s grounds to point the finger at Tehran.
It stems from what Merchant allegedly told agents in an interview in July 2024. The session was not recorded, and the agents’ report on it is sealed. Only a few questions on this topic were allowed in court.
According to Agent Jacqueline Smith, Merchant said one of his cousins introduced him to an IRGC handler at some point in Iran. This force, officially called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was prominent in Iran during the era of the country’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali KhameneiWho was killed in the US-Israeli attack this weekend. The United States considers the Revolutionary Guard a “foreign terrorist organization.”
Merchant said he expected his handler to repay the $5,000 Merchant took from his cousin and gave to the alleged killers, who were actually undercover FBI agents, Smith told the jury. Merchant also relayed some advice from the therapist: “If he notices he’s being watched, he should act normal,” she said.
Defense attorney Avraham Moskowitz confirmed that the interview was not recorded, and described the agents’ report as “someone’s impression of what was said.”
“I disagree with that characterization,” Smith said, but acknowledged that the sealed document was not a verbatim account.
The interview was what is known as an offer session, which is generally a time when defendants or suspects and their lawyers explore the possibility of cooperating with the authorities. While jurors were not present in the room, Moskowitz noted that presentations can produce a mix of things “that may be true and other things said that may not be true.”
While only getting a glimpse of that interview, jurors saw and heard recordings of Dealer interacting with undercover FBI agents and with an acquaintance who reported him to the agency in the first place.
In one June 2024 recording played in court this week, Merchant told undercover agents that he and his associates in Pakistan were looking for people to steal documents, provoke protests at political events, and “the last thing is: Maybe you could, for example, kill someone.”
“The third thing you want, it could be a big deal,” one customer said. He commented on the possibility that “you want to kill someone’s wife?”
“No, no… maybe it’s some politician, or maybe someone else,” Merchant said, later clarifying that he didn’t know exactly who he was.
“Great,” the agent said, adding: “This is going to be expensive.”
About a week later, Merchant was recorded meeting with customers at a rooftop restaurant in Manhattan, and then, in a nearby car, handing them $5,000 in rolled-up, rubber-bound $100 bills.
Authorities said in court documents that the merchant was arrested in Texas on July 12, 2024 while he was packing his belongings to return to Pakistan.
A day after the dealer was arrested, a man from Pennsylvania He attempted to assassinate Trump At a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania. Officials said it appears the gunman acted alone They were tracking A threat to Trump’s life from Iran, an allegation the Islamic Republic called “malicious and baseless.”
The president alluded to alleged Iranian plots on Sunday when he discussed Khamenei’s death.
“I got him before he got me,” Trump told ABC News.