Trump assassination plot foiled, suspect has ties to Iran | LiveNOW from FOX

A Pakistani man with ties to Iran has been charged in an apparent plot to potentially assassinate former President Donald Trump, as well as other government officials from both political parties, federal sources told Fox News.

The criminal complaint for Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national, does not mention any politicians by name, but according to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the assassination plot is in response to the 2020 killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was killed in a drone strike ordered by former President Trump.

Officials said Merchant was in federal custody and visited Iran two weeks before traveling to the US in April.

Trump reacted to Merchant’s arrest on Fox and Friends, saying “I’ll tell you this. I'm in a very dangerous business. Being president is a dangerous thing. And especially when you are an active president, when you're somebody that wants to make our country secure, when you want to build a strong military."

US officials have said this is unrelated to the attempted assassination of Trump on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was shot and a retired fire chief, Corey Comperatore was killed. Federal agents had arrested Merchant one day prior to the attack on Trump.

Investigators allege Merchant had sketched out assassination scenarios on a napkin in a New York City hotel room and told a confidential informant his targets hurt Pakistan and the Muslim world.

Court documents show the assassinations were planned for the end of this month or the start of next month.

FOX’s Nate Foy joined LiveNOW from FOX’s Josh Breslow with the latest information.

Raw and unfiltered. Watch a non-stop stream of breaking news, live events and stories across the nation. Limited commentary. No opinion. Experience LiveNOW from FOX.

[christopherbowers]

Good idea. Blame another country so the government stays under the radar…

[HelenQ]

They keep trying the same old scheme. We not buying this mess

[garyleewhite]

He had ties to Iran? Yep. that's just the excuse we need to invade

[busterstutts]

Goverment Disinformation we know what they did

[randymcneely]

"Sketched his plans out on a napkin"? What is this Film Noire slapstick gaslighting by an embattled SS and FBI?

[joerafati]

They always said the dude has ties to BlackRock, now they wanna blame Iran.

[HomeDefender]

Anything to take the pressure off the SS huh?

[drevile]

Nice cover up fed boys but not good enough😂

[hopeourfallen]

Ya because it's much easier (and more profitable) to declare war on an outside nation vs hold our OWN AGENCIES ACCOUNTABLE for their role
😒🤐

[dcarter]

Like Iraq had something to do with the towers? Those kind of ties? Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me.

[alijabak]

After the poor performance by law enforcement in PA they fabricated new story to cover their failure

[blitzhunts]

Love how fox news is covering for the FBI

[franc]

🤣 laughable they come up with this almost 1 month after the assassination attempt

[richardbellsr]

Our government is the only one I know who would try and sell you a wooden nickel for 50 cents.

[LivingTheDream]

Wow. Fox has really gone down the crapper to air this bs.

[samc]

What they're not telling you is that he has ties to Mossad.

[ApacheJay]

Idgaf who he has "ties" to. Israel should fight their own damn wars. Also find it funny these "ties" are never really explained. We're only told they exist.

[ashleyfarmer]

I knew yall would find a way to make this irans fault and not the democrats in office

[JustMeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

Oh, is that what we're calling the SS and FBI now? 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️

[randymcneely]

DISinformation overload is really quite atrocious. Indeed.