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BROOKLYN (CN) — A Pakistani man standing trial on terrorism charges suspected the 2024 assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was facilitated by Iran, according to witness testimony in the federal case.
Asif Merchant, 47, is accused of working alongside Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to hatch a scheme to kill U.S. politicians, including Joe Biden, Nikki Haley and Trump. But prosecutors say his plot was foiled when he tried to hire two undercover FBI agents as hitmen, leading to his arrest in 2024 — which happened to be just a day before a gunman shot Trump in the ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“He said that he thought that Iran was responsible for that because that’s the same thing he was sent here to do,” Jacqueline Smith, a special agent for the FBI present for the several meetings with Merchant following his arrest, testified Thursday.
Smith’s testimony, in the government’s rebuttal case at the tail end of the trial, contradicted Merchant’s own statements on the witness stand. He took the unusual step of testifying in his own defense Wednesday and Thursday, and claimed that he was “not sent specifically” to kill Trump because, at the time, he didn’t know which politician was his target.
The scheme wasn’t hatched on his own accord, Merchant claimed. Rather, he insisted he was pressured by Iranian officials and feared repercussions for his family if he didn’t follow through.
“I was not wanting to do this so willingly,” Merchant testified through an Urdu translator, claiming that he knew his longshot plan would be thwarted by U.S. law enforcement, whom he’d hoped would help get him out of the situation.
But prosecutors fought that defense in a court filing this week, in which they wrote that there is “absolutely no evidence” that Merchant engaged in the plot “out of duress or fear for relatives.”
Additionally, Smith testified Thursday that throughout her several meetings with Merchant, he never once expressed fear for his family or asked for help. She said he offered a different reason for taking the job with the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“He said he was interested in intelligence work and wanted to be paid,” Smith said.
Merchant previously testified that he thought he could be paid up to $1 million for facilitating the assassination.
Smith also testified Merchant, under direction from his handler in Iran, considered attending one of Trump’s political rallies to scout its security. But he deemed it’d be too risky to show up in person, so he watched it online and sent his observations to his handler, according to Smith.
Merchant’s trial comes at a tumultuous time for American-Iranian relations. The U.S. launched a bombing campaign in Iran last week that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Trump administration has justified the intervention in part because of Iran’s supposed efforts to kill the president.
U.S. officials have claimed that the Revolutionary Guards Corps have repeatedly sought to avenge Gen. Quassem Soleimani, a top Iranian commander who was killed by an American drone strike in 2020.
Merchant shared pictures of Soleimani on Facebook posts, which prosecutors showed the jury on Thursday. He also shared a video of news coverage in which an Iranian official called for revenge on the U.S. for Soleimani’s killing.
“I shared it just as the news,” Merchant said, downplaying the clip’s significance.
This week, prosecutors showed other posts from Merchant’s Facebook account, including one that depicted an American flag burning, another of Trump digging his own grave and another of Trump’s severed head.
Jurors also saw a hidden-camera FBI recording of Merchant supposedly plotting the murder on a napkin in a Queens, New York, motel room.
“This is the target,” Merchant can be heard telling another man while pointing to an orange e-cigarette. “How will it die?”
The jury could start deliberating as early as Friday. Merchant faces two charges: murder for hire and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Merchant is being represented by Avraham Moskowitz, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York who is also serving as learned counsel in Luigi Mangione’s federal murder case.
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