Pakistani National Charged in Alleged Trump Assassination Plot

Police Off The Cuff/Real Crime Stories

Bill Cannon Police off the Cuff/Real Crime Stories

Law Enforcement, Crime, True Crime, Military

4.4 • 870 Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2024

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Justice Department said on Tuesday that it had charged a Pakistani man who had recently visited Iran with trying to hire a hit man to assassinate political figures in the U.S. Investigators believe that potential targets likely included former President Donald J. Trump, according to a senior law enforcement official. The man, Asif Raza Merchant, 46, was arrested in New York on July 12, one day before a 20-year-old man, Matthew Crooks, shot at and slightly wounded Mr. Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania, according to a complaint unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Officials said they had no evidence indicating the plot was connected to the shooting in Butler, Pa. But they said the arrest of Mr. Merchant — who had recently spent two weeks in Iran — had disrupted what they characterized as a far-ranging plot that also included seeking to steal computer files from U.S. officials. U.S. intelligence agencies were tracking a potential Iranian assassination plot against Mr. Trump in the weeks before the assassination attempt that prompted the Secret Service to enhance security for the former president before his outdoor campaign rally in Pennsylvania. It is not clear if the scheme made public on Tuesday precipitated those moves. (NY Times

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to police off the cuff, real crime stories. I'm your host,
0:17.5	retired NYPD Sergeant Bill Cannon, a 27-year veteran of the NYPD.
0:22.6	You know, getting lost a bit, I think, in the attempted assassination of former President Trump
0:30.6	was the arrest of Asif Murchant, who was a Pakistani citizen, Pakistani citizen,
0:41.3	Pakistani national, as he's been described,
0:44.4	for the assassination planning to not just assassinate former President Trump,
0:50.9	but some other high-level officials, government officials in the United
0:55.1	States, as well as commit theft of documents and other devices on the computer.
1:03.9	Luckily, he approached someone that became a confidential source for the FBI.
1:12.8	Now, one of the questions that I think has to be asked,
1:17.3	absolutely has to be asked.
1:18.7	I'll put the thumbnail on the screen.
1:21.3	Pakistani National Charge and alleged Trump assassination plot.
1:26.0	Is it related to the attempt on July 13th,
1:30.3	2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania?
1:34.1	I've heard some news stations already dismiss this already.
1:38.0	Guess what, Mr. News reporter?
1:39.6	It's way too early to dismiss whether or not this man here on the screen, Mr. Asif
1:48.4	Mashant, can be connected with Thomas Crooks.
1:53.7	Much too early.
1:54.8	The investigation is way too early.
1:56.8	So when news reporters just dismiss this as it's not related, and the fed say it's,
	...

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