The alleged scheme is at the center of a criminal trial<\/a> that started in a federal court in New York last week, days before the Mideast combat that now looms in the background.<\/p>\n \u201cThis trial is happening in interesting times,\u201d Judge Eric Komitee told lawyers this week in the case of Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national accused of trying to hire hit men to kill a U.S. politician. Merchant didn\u2019t name a target but searched online for Trump +rally locations, according to prosecutors, who introduced evidence Tuesday that Merchant\u2019s laptop contained photos of both Trump and then-President Joe Biden at a time when they were rivals for the presidency.<\/p>\n An FBI agent testified Tuesday that Merchant told her he had a Revolutionary Guard \u201chandler\u201d and believed the handler would help bankroll the plan. Merchant\u2019s lawyer suggested the purported statements might not be accurate.<\/p>\n Merchant, 47, has pleaded not guilty to attempted terrorism and other charges. His attorneys say prosecutors are trying to wedge evidence into a narrative that doesn\u2019t fit.<\/p>\n Merchant\u2019s ties to Iran<\/p>\n 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 suggested that he had ties to Iran\u2019s theocratic government.<\/p>\n When Merchant was indicted in 2024, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said the case was \u201cstraight out of the Iranian regime\u2019s playbook.\u201d Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland portrayed it as an example of \u201cIran\u2019s lethal plotting against Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n In court Tuesday, an FBI agent opened a window \u2014 though a narrow, constrained one \u2014 on the government\u2019s basis for pointing a finger at Tehran.<\/p>\n It stems from what Merchant allegedly told agents in a July 2024 interview. The session wasn\u2019t recorded, and the agents\u2019 report on it is sealed. Only a few questions about it were allowed in court.<\/p>\n According to agent Jacqueline Smith, Merchant said one of his cousins introduced him to a Revolutionary Guard handler at some point in Iran. Formally called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the force has been prominent in Iran under the country\u2019s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>, who was killed in the U.S.-Israeli attack this weekend. The U.S. deems the Revolutionary Guard a \u201cforeign terrorist organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Merchant said he expected his handler would reimburse $5,000 that Merchant had gotten from his cousin and had given to the supposed hit men, who actually were undercover FBI agents, Smith told jurors. She said Merchant also relayed some advice from the handler: \u201cIf he noticed he was being surveilled, he should act normal.\u201d<\/p>\n Defense lawyer Avraham Moskowitz underscored that the interview wasn\u2019t recorded, and he described the agents\u2019 report as \u201csomeone\u2019s impression of what was said.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI disagree with that characterization,\u201d Smith said, but acknowledged the sealed document wasn\u2019t a verbatim account.<\/p>\n The interview was what\u2019s known as a proffer session, generally a time when defendants or suspects and their lawyers explore the possibility of cooperating with authorities. Moskowitz noted, while jurors weren\u2019t in the room, that proffers can produce a mix of things \u201cthat may be true and other things that are said that may not be true.\u201d<\/p>\n While getting only a glimpse of that interview, jurors have seen and heard recordings of Merchant interacting with undercover FBI agents and with an acquaintance who flagged him to the agency in the first place.<\/p>\n A recorded talk about a killing<\/p>\n In one June 2024 recording that was played in court this week, Merchant told the undercover agents that he and associates in Pakistan were looking for people to steal documents, create protests at political events, \u201cand the last thing is: Maybe you can, say, kill someone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe third thing you wanted, like, that could be a big deal,\u201d one of the agents observed. He dangled the possibility that \u201cyou want somebody\u2019s wife killed?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, no\u2026. maybe it\u2019s some political person, maybe some other person,\u201d said Merchant, who later explained that he didn\u2019t yet know exactly whom.<\/p>\n \u201cWow,\u201d the agent said, adding: \u201cThat\u2019s gonna cost.\u201d<\/p>\n About a week later, Merchant was recorded meeting the agents at a Manhattan rooftop restaurant and then, in a nearby car, handing them $5,000 in rolled-up, rubber-banded $100 bills.<\/p>\n Trump points out alleged Iranian plots<\/p>\n Merchant was arrested in Texas on July 12, 2024, as he was packing to fly back to Pakistan, authorities said in court documents.<\/p>\n A day after Merchant\u2019s arrest, a Pennsylvania man made an attempt on Trump\u2019s life<\/a> at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania. Officials said it appeared the gunman acted alone but that they had been tracking<\/a> a threat on Trump\u2019s life from Iran, a claim that the Islamic Republic called \u201cunsubstantiated and malicious.\u201d<\/p>\n The president alluded to the alleged Iranian plots Sunday as he discussed Khamenei\u2019s death.<\/p>\n![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Political_Assassinations_Plot_46450.jpg\")
FILE \u2013 This image provided by the Justice Department, contained in the complaint supporting the arrest warrant, shows Asif Merchant. (Justice Department via AP, File)<\/p>\n