First on Fox: A group of key bipartisan senators who oversee homeland security and government affairs have demanded answers from FBI Director Christopher Wray and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged an alleged Iranian agent. Make a plan Assassinate a politician or US official – possibly former President Trump.
Pakistani nationals Asif Merchant charged Earlier this month, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said he was charged with attempting to commit a murder-for-hire.
“This dangerous assassination plot exposed in today’s indictments was allegedly masterminded by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is directly part of Iranian strategy,” Wray said in the press release. “Any foreign-directed plot to assassinate a government official or an American citizen is a threat to our national security and will be confronted with the full force and resources of the FBI.”
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Top bipartisan Senators are demanding answers from Director Wray and Secretary Mayorkas about an alleged Iranian agent who possibly tried to plot an assassination against Trump. (Getty Images/Department of Justice)
In a joint letter to Wray and Mayorkas on Wednesday, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) Chairman Gary Peters, Democratic-Mich., Ranking Member Rand Paul, R-Ky., Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Richard Blumenthal, Democratic-Conn., and Ranking Member Ron Johnson, R-Wis., noted that court documents detail that Merchant “had been plotting his assassination since at least April 2024, when he ‘flew from Pakistan to Istanbul and then to Houston, Texas, around April 13, 2024, to recruit individuals to carry out his plot to assassinate U.S. government officials.’”
Senator Pointing to Fox News Digital The report cites multiple federal law enforcement sources close to the investigation who claimed the FBI was tracking Merchant even before he entered the US. According to those sources, the bureau needed him to enter the country to strengthen its case and arrest him.
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According to sources, arresting the businessman at customs would have denied agents the opportunity to obtain necessary evidence regarding the conspiracy.
“In light of this new information and in order to understand the extent of the FBI and DHS’s knowledge of Merchant and his conspiracy, including the rationale for allowing him to enter the United States,” Peters, Paul, Blumenthal and Johnson asked that FBI and DHS officials answer when and how the FBI learned about the Pakistani national, what the bureau knew at the time, and whether it shared this information with the Secret Service.
The lawmakers also sought information from the entities on whether the FBI had sponsored a Significant Public Benefit Parole (SPBP) for Merchant for “security interests.” The suspect was reportedly granted entry through the SPBP, which allows non-citizens to enter the US on a temporary basis.
Asif Merchant, 46, is accused of attempting to assassinate a political figure in the US. Federal law enforcement sources told Fox News that he was allowed into the US through immigration parole. (Justice Department)
They also questioned Mayorkas and Ray about the information the FBI provided to DHS before the decision to allow Merchant to enter the country. The senators asked, “Did the FBI inform DHS of the plot to murder Merchant? When and how did DHS officials learn about Merchant?”
In their correspondence, the senators noted that the request made last month is still pending, seeking “documents and information from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), including any intelligence about a range of threats known or being investigated ahead of the July 13, 2024 rally,” where Trump survived an assassination attempt.
The first request on July 24 came in response to an attempted assassination of Trump at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The gunfire wounded the former president in the ear, leaving him bleeding, and killed one spectator, with two others seriously injured.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump is escorted off stage during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Please describe what steps federal law enforcement has taken to investigate any connection between the plot to assassinate Merchant and the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024,” the lawmakers requested in the latest letter.
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The FBI confirmed to Fox News Digital that it received the letter but declined to comment.
DHS did not provide comment to Fox News Digital by the time of publication.
Fox News’s Louis Casciano, Bill Melugin, David Spunt and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
