(Ken Silva, Headline USA) On July 12, 2024, the FBI arrested a man for participating in an Iranian plot to purportedly assassinate U.S. officials, including Donald Trump. The man, Asif Merchant, had earlier in the year met with two undercover FBI agents, and tried hiring them as “hitmen.”
At first, Merchant was cooperative with the FBI. He told agents, among other things, that he had an Iranian “handler” named Mehardad Yousef, and that his Iranian handler wanted to assassinate Trump at one of his campaign rallies—a plot eerily similar to what ended up nearly occurring on July 13.
Merchant later said he cooperated with the hopes that the U.S. government will help get his family out of Iran. But instead, he was charged with murder for hire, and convicted earlier this year.
Moreover, someone in the Justice Department leaked records about him cooperating with the FBI. Those notes were published by numerous media outlets, including this publication.
Asif Merchant's lawyers have accused the government of jeopardizing their client's family by leaking information he provided about the Iranian government's purported assassination program.
Merchant was arrested July 12, 2024–the day before the Butler shooting–after having… https://t.co/BuzdITrYrE pic.twitter.com/FBMjlpvdmu
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) October 29, 2026
As a result, the lives of Merchant’s family in Iran were jeopardized, his lawyers said in a sentencing memorandum filed Tuesday.
“The government leaked details of the proffers, thereby endangering the lives of Mr. Merchant’s wife and adopted daughter in Iran, who have not been heard from since the press reported on the proffers,” Merchant’s lawyers said.
“To this day it is not known whether his wife and daughter in Teheran are alive and well,” they later added.
The details about the DOJ’s compromising leak were included in a sentencing memorandum, in which Merchant’s lawyers seek a “substantially lower” sentence than the 30 years recommended by government.
Merchant’s lawyers argued that their client’s purported plot never had a serious chance at success. Indeed, as this author has covered, the U.S. let Merchant into the country on purpose as part of a sting operation in April 2024. Merchant—who doesn’t speak English—was driven around by an FBI informant, and connected with two undercover agents posing as hitmen.
The lawyers also said their client was acting under duress because he believed the Iranian government would harm his family if he didn’t follow orders.
“Mr. Merchant was a disposable dupe, used by the IRGC to wreak havoc on the American political system during an election year, with no expectation that the ill-conceived and executed plot would succeed,” they said.
Merchant is set to be sentenced on Nov. 17.
Lawyers for the man convicted of trying to hire undercover FBI agents in a purported Iranian assassination plot against Trump called their client a "disposable dupe" who had no chance of success, per a sentencing memo filed this week.
They seek a "substantially lower" sentence… https://t.co/3vxnVRGVTP pic.twitter.com/cZhzB77TZP
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) October 29, 2026
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
