A Pakistani man who was charged with plotting to kill American politicians has claimed that Iranian spies recruited him to kill US President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden.
A Pakistani man who was charged with plotting to kill American politicians has claimed that Iranian spies recruited him to kill US President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden. 47-year-old Asif Merchant made the revelation in a bombshell testimony on Wednesday.
During the trial, the accused terrorist, Asif Merchant, claimed that his family was threatened and he was forced into the plot to save his loved ones, The New York Times reported. It is pertinent to note that the US Justice Department accused Merchant of trying to recruit people in the United States in the plan targeting Trump and other American politicians.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Merchant was allegedly plotting to avenge Washington’s killing of the Corps’ top commander, Qassem Soleimani. “I was not wanting to do this so willingly,” the New York Times quoted Merchant as telling a court during his trial for terrorism and murder-for-hire charges, adding that he participated to protect his family in Tehran.
However, the prosecutors rejected Merchant’s claim, citing a “lack of evidentiary support for a true duress or coercion,” according to a letter