(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A trial date has been set for Asif Merchant, the Pakistani man busted for hiring two undercover FBI agents to be “hitmen” in an alleged Iranian-sponsored assassination plot against Donald Trump—but Merchant is being blocked from seeing his lawyer.
On Friday, U.S. Judge Eric R. Komitee set Merchant’s trial date for Jan. 26. Merchant was arrested on July 12 as he was attempting to leave the country, and he’s been held in solitary confinement ever since.
Merchant’s next court hearing is set for June 17. His lawyers have filed numerous complaints that their client has unable to meet with them or to review his discovery, which includes recordings of conversations he had with the undercover FBI agents.
According to Merchant’s attorney, Avraham Moskowitz, the Justice Department is refusing to provide his client with the recordings because prosecutors fear they will be smuggled out of prison—thereby endangering the informant and undercover agents. Moskowitz said the risk of recordings being smuggled out of Merchant’s high-security jail is nearly non-existent—unless one of the prison guards does the deed.
Another update on the "Iran assassination" case against Trump.
The DOJ is still refusing to provide the defendant, Asif Merchant, with recordings of his conversations with undercover FBI agents. Instead, the DOJ wants to allow the defendant to review the recordings with his… https://t.co/yaaKVqSE9N pic.twitter.com/g3T0BibtA3— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) March 17, 2025
Last week, the DOJ responded to Moskowitz’s complaints, insisting that Merchant poses a security risk at Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, where the likes of alleged United Healthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione and alleged sex trafficker Sean “Diddy” Combs are also incarcerated.
According to the DOJ, Merchant can smuggle the recordings via “low-tech hand to hand tradecraft”, which presumably means that Merchant could pass a physical thumb drive to someone.
The DOJ did offer to increase the number of times Merchant can visit his attorney in person from once a month to twice.
However, the DOJ hasn’t even been keeping its once-a-month promise, according to Moskowitz, who further blasted prosecutors last Thursday.
“The Government has proposed bringing Mr. Merchant to the courthouse twice a month so that he can meet with counsel to review the discovery. While the Government’s gracious offer would be helpful, recent history has shown that it cannot be relied on,” he said.
“Just today, for the second time in the past two weeks, Mr. Merchant was not produced to the courthouse for his scheduled meeting with counsel. Although a production order was submitted by the prosecutors, the Marshals Service claimed that because of the [special administrative measures] to which Mr. Merchant is subject, they did not have the manpower available to bring him to the courthouse.”
Moskowitz also criticized the DOJ for continuing to keep the FBI undercover recordings secret.
“Given the fact that Mr. Merchant is in solitary confinement and only has contact with members of the correctional staff at the MDC, the only way Mr. Merchant could get an ‘electronic device or other media’ is if it is smuggled into his cell by a member of the MDC staff,” Moskowitz said in his letter.
“Similarly, given that the MDC staff reviews every piece of mail that Mr. Merchant receives or sends, it would be impossible for him to smuggle the recordings out of the MDC through the mail without the assistance of MDC staff members,” he said.
“Simply put, the Government’s lack of trust in its correctional officers is both shocking and distressing,” he said.
Judge Komittee has yet to rule on the matter.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
