Pakistani Suspect In Plot To Kill Trump Was Allowed Into U.S. Even Though He Was On Terror Watchlist

A Pakistani man charged with plotting with Iran to assassinate former President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials was allowed into the U.S. even though he was on a terror watchlist.

Asif Raza Merchant, 46, was arrested last month and charged in a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate a politician or U.S. government official on U.S. soil, the Department of Justice said in a press release on Tuesday.

Just The News reported that Merchant was allowed into the U.S. by the FBI in April with special permission known as “significant public benefit parole,” despite being flagged on a terrorism watchlist and having recently spent time in Iran. The outlet obtained government memos showing that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force interviewed Merchant, fingerprinted him, and inspected his electronic devices when he arrived in Houston but allowed him to leave.

“Subject was polite and cooperative throughout encounter,” the FBI interview memo said. “… Subject’s notable travel outside of country of citizenship includes a recent trip to Iran.”

Merchant was arrested on July 12, just one day before Trump was nearly assassinated at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Immigration records reviewed by Just The News revealed that Merchant was on a watch list with a note calling him a “Lookout Qualified Person of Interest.”

Several law enforcement officials who spoke to Just The News said Merchant’s parole designation would allow agents to attempt to flip him into cooperating against terrorists or allow them time to determine why he was coming to the U.S. and who he was working with. Those tactics also came with the risk that they would lose track of Merchant, the officials told Just The News.

Merchant was also allowed to remain in the country beyond the expiration date for his parole.

After being allowed into the U.S., Merchant immediately contacted someone he thought could help him allegedly carry out the assassination, the DOJ said. That person contacted law enforcement and became a confidential source (CS) to assist law enforcement in its investigation of Merchant.

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Merchant allegedly told the CS that he was assigned to recruit hitmen to steal documents or USB drives from a target’s home, plan protests, and kill politicians or government officials. Merchant expected the CS to plan the assassination and warned him that the target would be surrounded by security. Merchant said the assassination should take place after he left the country and indicated that he had been assigned this task by individuals in Iran or Pakistan.

Undercover federal law enforcement agents posed as hitmen and got Merchant to allegedly agree to $5,000 in payment for the assassinations.

“Notably, when the FBI arrived at his residence to execute the arrest as well as a search warrant for the residence, Merchant refused to exit his residence for approximately 20 minutes after the FBI announced their presence and the search warrant,” court documents said. “During the search, law enforcement agents searched Merchant’s wallet and found the handwritten note inside with the code words that Merchant invented to communicate with the CS about the assassination plot.”

Neither the DOJ nor court documents mentioned Trump as Merchant’s target, but The New York Daily News said a source told the outlet that this was the case.