WASHINGTON: An official from the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has denied a CNN report about Asif Merchant, a Pakistani man with alleged ties to the Iranian government who is accused of plotting political assassinations in the United States.
Citing unsealed court documents from the Justice Department, CNN said Merchant was charged in the case, which led the US government to increase security for former President Donald Trump and other officials.
However, in the same report, CNN quoted an FBI official as saying that investigators had found no evidence linking Merchant to the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
FBI investigators suspect Trump and other current and former U.S. government officials were the intended targets of the plot, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said.
The White House also said no evidence was found against Asif Merchant and the investigation is ongoing as the accused remains in federal custody.
Prosecutors say Merchant planned to leave the country before carrying out the assassination, but was arrested before he could flee.
According to charges filed by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, Asif Merchant, 46, is accused of traveling to New York and working with a hitman to carry out the assassinations in late August or early September.
Prosecutors said Merchant was arrested on July 12 while trying to leave the United States. His arrest came shortly after he met with alleged hitmen who were actually undercover law enforcement officers. The businessman is currently in federal custody.
Court documents reveal that Merchant expressed a desire to target individuals in the United States who he claimed were “harming Pakistan and the world, the Muslim world,” stressing that “they’re not just normal people.”
