A Brooklyn jury has convicted Asif Merchant, 48, a Pakistani citizen, on charges of murder-for-hire and terrorism-related offenses in an alleged plot to assassinate President Trump.
The jury reached the verdict after less than two hours of deliberation on March 6, rejecting Merchant's testimony that he was forced into the plot because his family in Iran was threatened.
According to court records, Merchant was recruited by Iranian agents and arrived in the U.S. in April 2024. There, he sought to hire hitmen to execute the plan to assassinate President Trump at a Republican campaign rally.
In a video secretly recorded by the FBI, Merchant used a piece of note paper to draw a simple diagram showing the crowd and stage layout at a campaign rally. He marked the target's position and told the person he believed was an accomplice: “This is the target. How to kill this person?”
The person Merchant approached reported it to authorities, helping the FBI launch a sting operation.
Merchant later paid a $5,000 deposit to two undercover FBI agents posing as hitmen. He was arrested in August 2024 while attempting to leave the U.S. before the plan could be carried out.
In his court testimony, Merchant said his handlers in Iran mentioned three U.S. politicians who could be targets, including Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Nikki Haley.
Merchant also said he could receive up to $1 million if the mission was successful.
However, during interrogation, Merchant admitted he knew his handlers belonged to a group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and believed the people receiving his money were real hitmen.
Prosecutors stated that Merchant told the FBI after his arrest that his motives included money and a desire for revenge for the death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a 2020 U.S. drone strike.
Merchant now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for the attempted murder charge when the court sentences him in the near future.
