It's more than a bit disturbing that there are now two known attempts to kill Donald Trump linked to Iran, and in both cases, the federal government was aware of the individuals involved. 

In both instances, the federal government was instrumental in letting the plotter into the country from abroad despite the suspect being flagged as a potential threat. 

After Thomas Matthew Crooks took his shots at Trump in Butler, PA, we learned that Asif Merchant--a Pakistani with deep ties to Iran--had been arrested for plotting to have Trump assassinated. He was tracked for months as he tried to hire assassins to take out the former president. 

He was a known wolf, allowed to roam the country, and had been flagged as a potential terrorist upon entering the country. The TSA interviewed him and was ready to kick him out of the country, but the FBI gave him a special visa, fully aware of his mission to get Americans killed. 

Think about that. 

The Pakistani national with links to Iran who was arrested for allegedly plotting a political assassination on American soil was admitted into the United States via immigration parole for the "significant public benefit," multiple federal law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation told Fox News.

In April, Asif Merchant, 46, flew into Houston where he encountered U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. The FBI sponsored his parole for "security interests," the law enforcement sources said. 

The FBI had eyes on Merchant before he arrived in the U.S. and needed him to physically enter the country so they could build a case and arrest him. If they arrested him at customs, they would not have been able to gather evidence and information about his plot, the sources said. 

He was arrested on July 12th--the day before the assassination attempt in Butler that took the life of one person and wounded three others, including the former president. He wasn't arrested after he tried to hire somebody to kill Trump, but only when he tried to leave the country. 

Funny that. 

Pakistani national pleads not guilty to allegedly plotting to assassinate Trump, other politicians https://t.co/YgtXIWFVhd

— Just the News (@JustTheNews) September 17, 2024

Now we have a second Iran-linked assassin, Ryan Routh, who happened to get within a few hundred yards of the president with a rifle. And it turns out that he, too, had been flagged when entering the country, and the Department of Homeland Security declined to investigate. 

Routh had written a book calling on Iran to assassinate Trump. 

Breaking: Suspected Trump assassin flagged by U.S. during return from Ukraine, but Homeland refused probe https://t.co/HqYCZB7ikJ

— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) September 17, 2024

This makes two Iran-linked plots to kill President Trump, both of which the perpetrators had been flagged by security services, and both of which the Department of Homeland Security or the FBI allowed to go forward unhindered. 

Ryan Routh, the suspected Donald Trump assassin, was interviewed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials when he returned from Ukraine last year and flagged for further investigation based on spontaneous comments he made to agents, but the Homeland Security Department declined to act, Just the News has confirmed.

The June 2023 encounter with Routh at the Honolulu airport is confirmed in U.S. border entry records reviewed by Just the News and is latest tale of missed law enforcement opportunities dating 2019 to stop or further investigation the alleged would-be assassin.

In neither case do we have evidence that federal law enforcement officials wanted anything bad to happen, but it is rather surprising to see that assassins linked to Iran somehow entered the country--in one case only with the HELP of federal law enforcement labeling the entry a "significant public benefit"--with the full knowledge that they were dangers to Americans, and specifically Donald Trump. 

Routh even gave U.S. agents who interviewed him a business card that portrayed him as the director of a group called the "International Volunteer Center" that also claimed to have contact in Syria, Pakistan and Israel. He also described who had underwritten his efforts to recruit foreigners to assist Kyiv.

“Subject is a USC who had traveled to Kiev, Ukraine for 3 months to help recruit Soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova, and Taiwan, to fight in the Ukrainian war against Russia,” the CBP interview notes of Routh state.

“Subject stated that he does not get paid for his recruiting efforts and all his work for the Ukrainian government is strictly volunteer work Subject provided his recruiting business card (cards have been uploaded into the event) which list his recruiting partners that he speaks with to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Romanian, Pakistan, Syria, and Israel,” the note added. "Subject stated that he obtains money from his wife to help fund his trips to Ukraine."

The memo stated that the Ukraine advocate was referred to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the lead investigative organ of the Homeland Security Department, but the division declined to pursue the matter.

“HSI was contacted and refused the case,” the interview memo stated.

No doubt, in the case of Routh, the agents on the ground did not know specifically about the threats to Donald Trump, but by the same token, it is also obvious that the Homeland Security officials who declined to investigate the case must have known that Routh had written a book inviting Iran to kill the president and that he was recruiting soldiers from the Middle East to go fight in Iran. 

How do we know that? Nobody writes a book suggesting the assassination of the president without it coming to the attention of federal law enforcement, and the details of the book came out within hours of Routh's arrest, so it wasn't exactly hidden. 

It is striking, at least to me, that we now have two cases where individuals linked somehow to Iranian plots to assassinate the former President of the United States were let into the country with the prior knowledge of federal law enforcement officials, and there have been two assassination attempts against President Trump.

Is this a coincidence? Perhaps. But it sure LOOKS suspicious, and perhaps federal law enforcement officials shouldn't be the ones investigating that coincidence, given that they, too, should be forced to explain themselves. 

We don't know much about Thomas Matthew Crooks' connections to Iran or the lack thereof because the feds have revealed remarkably little about him or the attempt yet. 

But a third-party investigation is warranted. Don't be surprised, though, if we don't get a thorough one. The results would be, at the very least, embarrassing to the FBI and Homeland Security. 

UPDATE: Routh had been reported to feds because he talked about assassinations all the time in Ukraine. 

🎥Watch as U.S. nurse, Chelsea Walsh who reported Ryan Routh to DHSgov when they were in Ukraine speaks of his volatile tendencies on Primetime with Jessie Watters.

▪️She states he spoke about assassinations ALL THE TIME.

▪️Her reports to the US federal government went… pic.twitter.com/PJQ3MVjOTc

— Still🏝️Roaming (@roaming_rn) September 18, 2024