The DOJ press release doesn't mention any names, it just a 46-year-old Pakistani man has been charged with plotting to assassinate "a politician or U.S. government officials on U.S. soil." But this ABC News report says the main target was former President Donald Trump.

After spending time in Iran, Asif Merchant flew from Pakistan to the U.S. to recruit hitmen to carry out the alleged plot, according to a detention memo. The person he contacted was a confidential informant working with the FBI, according to the criminal complaint.

Merchant, 46, is charged with murder for hire.

Killing the former president was one part of Merchant's plot but it was clear he wasn't planning to get his own hands dirty. Instead, he planned to hire the people needed, set everything in motion and then leave the country before it actually happened. Merchant also told the FBI informant that he was in contact with unnamed people overseas who wanted this done.

In early June, Merchant met the CS in New York and explained his assassination plot. Merchant told the CS that the opportunity he had for the CS was not a one-time opportunity and would be ongoing. Merchant then made a “finger gun” motion with his hand, indicating that the opportunity was related to a killing. Merchant further stated that the intended victims would be “targeted here,” meaning in the United States. Merchant instructed the CS to arrange meetings with individuals whom Merchant could hire to carry out these actions. Merchant explained that his plot involved multiple criminal schemes: (1) stealing documents or USB drives from a target’s home; (2) planning a protest; and (3) killing a politician or government official. 

At that meeting, Merchant began planning potential assassination scenarios and quizzed the CS on how he would kill a target in the various scenarios. Specifically, Merchant asked the CS to explain how the target would die in different scenarios. Merchant told the CS that there would be “security [] all around” the person. 

Merchant stated that the assassination would occur after he left the United States and he would communicate with the CS from overseas using code words. The CS asked whether Merchant had spoken to the unidentified “party” back home with whom Merchant was working. Merchant responded that he had and that the party back home told him to “finalize” the plan and leave the United States.

He eventually put up a $5,000 down-payment on the assassination, money which he had help getting from that same unnamed party overseas. After delivering the money, he made plans to leave the country.

Merchant then began arranging means to obtain $5,000 in cash to pay the UCs as an advance payment for the assassination, which he eventually received with assistance from an individual overseas. On June 21, Merchant met with the UCs in New York and paid them the $5,000 advance. After Merchant paid the $5,000 to the UCs, one of the UCs stated, “now we’re bonded,” to which Merchant responded “yes.” The UC then stated “Now we know we’re going forward. We’re doing this,” to which Merchant responded “Yes, absolutely.”

Merchant subsequently made flight arrangements and planned to leave the United States on Friday, July 12, 2024. On July 12th, law enforcement agents placed Merchant under arrest before he could leave the country. 

So if you're keeping track, the FBI arrested this guy one day before the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania where Trump was shot. So far, authorities say there is no known connection between the Matthew Crooks, the Butler shooter, and the plot originating overseas.

Speaking of which, the DOJ press release leaves little doubt about who the overseas party was that was behind all of this. FBI Director Wray said, "“This dangerous murder-for-hire plot exposed in today’s charges allegedly was orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian playbook." AG Garland added a likely reason why Iran would target Trump. "For years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran’s brazen and unrelenting efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Soleimani.” he said. 

Soleimani was the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corp, basically the general directly responsible for all of the trouble Iran causes in the region. In January 2020, a US drone operating on orders from President Trump killed him near Baghdad's airport. Iran immediately vowed revenge.

So as of now it looks like the FBI foiled one plot but missed another one, both happening around the same time. Despite them being separate, ABC News suggests the Iranian plot may have played a direct role in what happened in Pennsylvania.

"We were initially told that there was no Secret Service snipers coming but that was shifted either Thursday or Friday to indicate that there were," Pat Young, head of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit, told ABC News. "We had been told that this is the first time that a non-sitting president had been allocated Secret Service snipers. So that threw up some alarm bells for some of our guys that -- why the sudden shift -- from one stance to the other?"

This may be one of those times where truth is stranger than fiction. A plot the DOJ knew about may have accidentally helped foil another unrelated one. That's not to suggest the Secret Service did a bang up job in Butler, but things might have been even worse if there hadn't been a sniper team there at all.