# The US Justice Department has charged a Pakistani man, with alleged ties to Iran, over an alleged plot to carry out political assassinations on American soil. Forty-six-year-old Asif Merchant is accused of attempting to hire a hitman in New York to kill prominent officials this month and early September. According to reports, former president Donald Trump was among the targets. FBI director Christopher Wray says a foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any US citizen, is a threat to national security.
Pakistani man charged with murder-for-hire plot to assassinate US politicians