Who is Pakistani national Asif Merchant charged with Donald Trump assassination plot?

A Pakistani man identified as Asif Merchant (46), who was arrested earlier in the US, has been charged for plotting political assassination of former US president Donald Trump.

According to a report by CNN, the US Justice Department has charged him with links to Iran and conspiracy of political assassinations of other leaders as well.

According to the documents presented in the court, Asif Merchant is a Pakistani national and was born in 1978 in Karachi.

FBI said Merchant's wife and children are in Iran and has another family in Pakistan.

The justice department said that Merchant's travel records show that he has frequently travelled to Syria and Iran.

According to a report by India Today, Christopher Wray, FBI Director called the case a 'dangerous murder-for-hire plot.... straight out of the Iranian playbook'.

According to the justice department, Merchant had arrived in the United States after loitering in Iran.

In June, Merchant had travelled to New York to meet a person whom Merchant believed he could probably hire to perform the assassinations.

Merchant was arrested on July 12 when he was preparing to leave the United States after he met the would-be assassins, and is now in federal custody, according to CNN.

The two would-be assassins were undercover law enforcement officials in disguise who also received $5,000 in advance from Merchant, according to India Today.

Before planning to leave the US, Merchant had told the two men that he would provide further instructions about the names and information of the targets in August and September.

Citing court documents, CNN quoted that Merchant had told that his targets were those who are 'hurting Pakistan and the Muslim world', adding that his targets 'are not just normal people'.

Though the FBI have been probing the Trump assassination incident when 20-year-old Thomas Mathew Crooks from Pennsylvania shot at the former US president injuring his ear, no evidence could be found which could indicate Merchant's link to the shooting in Butler.

Crooks was shot and killed by a US Secret Service sniper at the spot.

According to a report by BBC, Wray said, "A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any US citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI."

According to the indictment, the killing job would not be a 'one-time opportunity' and the services would be needed on an 'ongoing basis'.

According to BBC, Merchant had told the assassins that he would leave US before his targets are killed and will remain in contact by using 'code words'.