First appearance on FOXA bipartisan group of senators with oversight of homeland security and government affairs is seeking explanations from FBI Director Christopher Wray and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas following charges filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against alleged Iranian operatives for orchestrating plots to assassinate a politician or U.S. government official, likely former President Trump.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced earlier this month that Pakistani national Asif Merchant had been indicted on charges of conspiring to commit murder-for-hire.
“The dangerous murder-for-hire plot uncovered in today’s indictment, allegedly orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran, is straight out of the Iranian tactics of the time,” Wray said in a press release. “Foreign-sponsored plots to assassinate public officials and American citizens are a threat to our national security and will be addressed with the full force and resources of the FBI.”
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A bipartisan group of senators is calling on Secretaries Wray and Mayorkas to explain Iranian agents who allegedly orchestrated an assassin-for-hire plot against President Trump. (Getty Images/Department of Justice)
In a joint letter to Senators Wray and Mayorkas on Wednesday, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) noted that court documents detail how Senator Marchant “had been plotting the assassination since at least April 2024, flying from Pakistan to Istanbul on or about April 13, 2024, and then traveling to Houston, Texas, where he was recruiting individuals to carry out the plot to assassinate senior U.S. government officials.”
The senators pointed to a Fox News Digital report that cited multiple federal law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation, who claimed the FBI had been monitoring Merchant before he entered the U.S. The sources said the FBI needed Merchant to enter the country in order to finalize the case and make an arrest.
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Sources said arresting the merchants at the customs offices would not have allowed investigators to get the necessary evidence about the conspiracy.
“In light of this new information, to understand the extent to which the FBI and Department of Homeland Security knew about Merchant and his conspiracy, and the justification for allowing him into the United States,” Peters, Paul, Blumenthal and Johnson asked FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials for answers about when and how the Pakistani national became known to the FBI, what the FBI knew at the time, and whether it shared information with the Secret Service.
The lawmakers also asked agencies for information about whether the FBI sponsored Significant Public Interest Parole (SPBP) for Marchant, citing “national security interests.” He was allegedly admitted through an SPBP, which allows non-citizens temporary entry into the United States.
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Asif Merchant, 46, is accused of plotting to kill politicians in the US. Federal law enforcement sources told Fox News that he was allowed into the US on immigration parole. (Ministry of Justice)
The senators also questioned Mayorkas and Wray about information the FBI provided to the Department of Homeland Security before the decision to allow Merchant into the country: “Did the FBI inform DHS of the plot to assassinate Merchant? When and how did DHS officials learn of Merchant’s existence?” the senators asked.
In their letter, the senators noted that a request made last month remains outstanding, asking for “documents and information from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) including information regarding a range of threats known or under investigation prior to the July 13, 2024 rally, at which President Trump survived an assassination attempt.”
The initial request on July 24 came after an assassination attempt on Trump at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left the former president with a wounded ear and bloodied, one spectator dead, and two seriously injured.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump was hurriedly escorted off the stage during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Please explain, if any, the steps taken by federal law enforcement agencies to investigate the plot to assassinate Mr. Marchant and any connections to the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump,” the lawmakers asked in their latest letter.
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The FBI confirmed it received the letter to Fox News Digital but declined to comment.
DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by publication time.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano, Bill Melgin, David Spunt and Michael Lewis contributed to this report.
