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A Pakistani man convicted on Friday of plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump and other politicians told an FBI agent he thought Iran “was responsible” for the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Asif Merchant, 47, told the FBI agent, Jacqueline Smith, that the incident “was the same thing he was sent here to do,” Smith testified during Merchant’s trial. Merchant told jurors the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sent him on a “mission” to kill U.S. politicians, including by telling him to attend a Republican rally.
Merchant was arrested July 12, 2024, one day prior to the shooting in Butler, where Thomas Crooks fired several shots into a rally crowd, killing one and grazing Trump’s ear.
The FBI has said repeatedly that it found no evidence that Crooks had co-conspirators or that any foreign actors were involved in the incident.
A sketch showing Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national with alleged ties to Iran, appearing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. Merchant is on trial for charges related to a foiled 2024 plot to assassinate a high-profile U.S. politician, identified by defense and law enforcement sources as President Donald Trump. (Christine Cornell)
Merchant, who was convicted by a jury of murder-for-hire and attempt to commit terrorism, testified that Trump was not his only target, telling jurors then-President Joe Biden and former presidential candidate Nikki Haley were also on his list. He claimed that he only took part in the plot because Iran’s IRGC warned it would target his family.
FORMER IRANIAN MINISTER PRAISES TRUMP ASSASSINATION FATWA AS DAUGHTER LIVES IN NEW YORK
“I had no other options,” Merchant said. “My family was threatened.”
Merchant now faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. His sentence will be determined at a later hearing.
This image provided by the Justice Department, contained in the complaint supporting the arrest…
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