Politics
Man convicted of Iran-backed Trump assassination plot compared his plan to Butler shooting: FBI
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A Pakistani man convicted Friday in federal court 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 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, N.Y., Wednesday, March 4, 2026. Merchant was 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 found guilty on all charges Friday after fewer than two hours of deliberation, was convicted by a jury in Brooklyn, New York, of murder-for-hire and attempting to commit terrorism. He 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 he only took part in the plot, which was foiled by the FBI before coming to fruition, 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.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that Merchant “landed on American soil hoping to kill President Trump — instead, he was met with the might of American law enforcement.”
“The Department of Justice will remain ever-vigilant to protect Americans, prosecute terrorists, and halt acts of terrorism before they happen,” Bondi said.
This image provided by the Justice Department, contained in the complaint supporting the arrest warrant, shows Asif Merchant. (Justice Department via AP, File)
Merchant was arrested after he was recorded on camera outlining a plot on a napkin to kill a politician with a person who turned out to be an FBI informant. Federal prosecutors showed video during the trial of Merchant speaking to the informant. The prosecutors said Merchant also tried to hire two hit men and pay them $5,000, but the men turned out to be federal agents posing as assassins.
Smith, the FBI agent who met with Merchant after his arrest, said Merchant never conveyed that he feared for his family. Merchant said he wanted to do intelligence work and be paid for it, Smith said.
TRUMP DECLARES ‘I GOT HIM BEFORE HE GOT ME’ AFTER IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER KILLED IN STRIKE
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is whisked away by the Secret Service after shots rang out at a campaign rally at Butler Farm Show Inc. July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
The FBI agent also said Merchant was told by an Iranian handler to attend a Republican political rally to scope out security. But Merchant was worried about being identified, so he watched the rally online instead.
Merchant’s defense team told jurors their client, who has two wives, was a family man and cared deeply about his faith and that he intentionally acted carelessly because he wanted to be caught.
In their closing arguments, defense lawyers said Merchant had his hand forced in the operation, thinking his family would be harmed if he did not cooperate. Additionally, the lawyers cited several instances in which Merchant’s actions as an intelligence operator were little more than incompetent.
Fox News’ Danielle Cavaliere, Brendan McDonald and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.
Related Article
A National Institutes of Health employee who was put on paid leave after organizing a public letter that criticized the Trump administration said on Friday that she had been reinstated — a move that followed the reinstatement of 14 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees who had signed a critical letter of their own.
The employee, Jenna Norton, was a key organizer of “The Bethesda Declaration,” issued in June 2025 and signed by nearly 500 N.I.H. employees, which deplored the degradation of medical research under Mr. Trump. The document spawned a wave of other public letters, including one known as the Katrina Declaration, signed by the FEMA employees, which warned that the agency risked repeating mistakes it had made during the Hurricane Katrina disaster more than two decades ago.
Dr. Norton, a program director at the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, was sent home with pay in November, when she tried to return to work after a 43-day government shutdown. She subsequently filed a whistle-blower complaint accusing her superiors of retaliating against her. She has emerged as a high-profile critic of the administration, speaking out on social media and in interviews.
This week, she received a four-sentence email telling her to return to work on Monday, she said, but it gave no reason for the reinstatement. A spokesman for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the N.I.H., did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Dr. Norton.
Dr. Norton specializes in research aimed at eliminating disparities in the incidence and treatment of kidney disease. But an executive order Mr. Trump issued on his first day in office, ending government-sponsored “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs, led to the cancellation of many of the grants she oversaw.
Some have been reinstated as a result of lawsuits. “I wish I could say I was excited to return to my job,” Dr. Norton said in an interview, “but I’m very worried that that job doesn’t really exist anymore.”
When Dr. Norton was first placed on “nondisciplinary administrative leave,” health department officials gave various reasons. One said she had been put on leave because she had criticized the administration when she was supposed to be working. The N.I.H. director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, told an online publication, Just the News, that the health department was investigating Dr. Norton “for potentially violating the Antideficiency Act,” which bars federal employees from spending money beyond what Congress appropriates.
He also said that Dr. Norton might have violated communications policy, and that she did not have the “academic freedom” to speak out because she is not a full-time research scientist.
That is not true, said Debra S. Katz, the lawyer representing Dr. Norton in her whistle-blower case, which is still pending.
“Her participation as leader of the Bethesda Declaration is legal, First Amendment protected speech,” Ms. Katz said. “They went on a fishing expedition to try to find a reason to suspend and fire her, and there was none. So they have been left with an indefensible position, and forced to take her back.”
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President Donald Trump appeared to joke during remarks at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches in Florida Friday that the U.S. would be “taking over” Cuba “almost immediately,” while recognizing attendees including former Rep. Dan Mica.
“And he comes from, originally, a place called Cuba, which we will be taking over almost immediately,” Trump said.
“Cuba’s got problems. We’ll finish one first. I like to finish a job.”
TRUMP AIMS TO RESET WAR POWERS CLOCK WITH CONTROVERSIAL BID TO BYPASS CONGRESS
President Donald Trump speaks during an event at The Villages Charter School in Sumterville, Fla., on Friday. (Thomas Simonetti/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump then riffed on a hypothetical show of American force.
“On the way back from Iran, we’ll have one of our big — maybe the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier — the biggest in the world,” he said.
“We’ll have that come in, stop about 100 yards offshore, and they’ll say, ‘Thank you very much, we give up.’”
The president did not elaborate further.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for clarification if the remarks were hypothetical or outlining policy plans.
Politics
Your guide to the California Congressional District 27 race: Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley
- Jason Gibbs: Republican, Santa Clarita City Council member, mechanical engineer
Gibbs has been a member of the Santa Clarita City Council since 2020 and was chosen by his peers to serve as the city’s mayor in 2023. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering at Cal Poly and went on to work in the aerospace industry, according to his campaign website. He has lived in Santa Clarita for nearly a decade while raising two young children, his bio says, and has served on the local boards of the Boys and Girls Club, the Valley Industry Assn. and the Salvation Army.
- George Whitesides: Democrat, incumbent
Whitesides defeated Republican incumbent Mike Garcia to represent the 27th Congressional District in 2024. Whitesides worked on President Obama’s transition team in 2008 and served as NASA chief of staff during the Obama administration, according to his campaign bio. He was the first chief executive of Virgin Galactic, co-founded Megafire Action, a nonprofit that advocates for legislation to address the growing problem of massive wildfires, and was a board member for the Antelope Valley Economic Development and Growth Enterprise, his bio says.
Others:
- Roberto Ramos: Democrat, Marine veteran, UCLA master’s student
- Caleb Norwood: Democrat, college student
A representative for David Neidhart, a Republican candidate, said he has withdrawn from the race. His name still will appear on the ballot.
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