Pakistani man with ties to Iran is charged in plot to carry out political assassinations on US soil

The Justice Department says a Pakistani man alleged to have ties to Iran has been charged in a plot to carry out political assassinations on U.S. soil. Prosecutors in Brooklyn announced criminal charges Tuesday against Asif Merchant, accusing him of traveling to New York to try to hire a hitman. The plot was disrupted before it could be carried out. Court documents do not identify any of the potential targets. But the case was unsealed just weeks after U.S. officials disclosed that a threat on Donald Trump’s life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before a Pennsylvania rally last month in which Trump was injured by a gunman’s bullet.