Brooklyn terror trial opens for man accused of plotting to kill Trump, other US officials

BROOKLYN (CN) — Asif Merchant had three goals when he traveled to the United States in 2024, according to federal prosecutors: steal documents, stage a protest at a political rally and kill a U.S. politician — possibly including then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

But his supposed plot was foiled when he tried to hire two undercover FBI agents as hitmen, the government claims. Now, the Pakistani man is standing trial in Brooklyn for terrorism charges. 

He could face life behind bars. 

Federal prosecutors opened the trial on Wednesday, telling jurors Merchant showed the undercover agents an assassination plan by sketching it out on a hotel napkin. At the time, Merchant didn’t tell them the target, according to the government. 

All he said was that it “would not be a normal person,” but a high-profile official who Merchant believed was harming Pakistan and the Muslim world, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nina Gupta told the jury. 

Throughout her brief opening remarks, Gupta didn’t name Trump as a potential target, either. But court filings show the defense responding to accusations that Merchant was “plotting to assassinate high-ranking government officials, including President Trump.”

In another document, the government claims that Merchant searched the internet for the location of one of Trump’s 2024 presidential rallies.

Gupta told jurors that they’ll see Merchant’s search history during the trial, which is slated to last between two and four weeks. They’ll also see video and hear audio recordings of Merchant describing the purported scheme. 

But according to Merchant’s defense team, that won’t be enough to convict their client.

“The government can't always be trusted. Public officials lie to our faces and they expect to get away with it,” attorney Christopher Nett told the jury. “They often do.” 

Urging jurors to reject their biases, Nett tried painting a picture of Merchant that was more relatable than the prosecutors'. He’s “deeply religious,” Nett said. He also prays every day and is a self-made, well-educated man who once worked as a banker. 

Merchant is a family man, too, according to Nett. 

“In fact, you’ll learn that he has two families,” said the defense attorney, who clarified that in the two countries where Merchant had wives and children — Iran and Pakistan — it is perfectly legal to be married to two women at once. 

Merchant was arrested in 2024 after prosecutors say he paid a $5,000 advance to the two would-be assassins. According to the government, he tried to flee the country ahead of the supposed plot, but was apprehended at the airport before he could leave. 

His arrest took place on July 12, 2024, just one day before a gunman shot Trump in the ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in an unrelated incident. 

The first witness to testify on Wednesday was the man who tipped off the FBI about Merchant in the first place. Nadeem Ali, testifying under a pseudonym, said he worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Army years before being introduced to Merchant in New York City. 

Ali, who is also from Pakistan, said he never considered Merchant to be a close friend, but that he helped him with favors and business ventures as is customary in New York’s tight-knit Pakistani community.

“It is our culture,” he said. 

Eventually, Ali said he got involved with Merchant’s t-shirt business, which he acknowledged got “shady” at times with some details of the business seeming too good to be true. Prosecutors say that the clothing company was actually a cover-up for the murder plot, and that Merchant would use clothing-related “code words” in messages to try to throw law enforcement off-track.

Ali said Merchant turned to him for help in hiring the hitmen. He started recording his future conversations with Merchant afterwards.

Merchant, now 47, took copious notes as Ali testified. Sporting a beige jacket and headphones for live translations, Merchant was stoic at the defense table throughout the trial’s first day.

He is facing two charges: one count of attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries and one count of murder for hire. 

Prosecutors suspect Merchant was tied to Iranian intelligence. U.S. officials have warned for years that Iran has sought to avenge the 2020 killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Officer Qassem Soleimani.

Follow @Uebey

Follow @uebey.bsky.social