Police Off The Cuff

"Pakistani National Charged in Alleged Trump Assassination Plot" #thomascrooks #trump #AsifMerchant The Justice Department said on Tuesday that it had charged a Pakistani man who had recently visited Iran with trying to hire a hit man to assassinate political figures in the U.S. Investigators believe that potential targets likely included former President Donald J. Trump, according to a senior law enforcement official. The man, Asif Raza Merchant, 46, was arrested in New York on July 12, one day before a 20-year-old man, Matthew Crooks, shot at and slightly wounded Mr. Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania, according to a complaint unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Officials said they had no evidence indicating the plot was connected to the shooting in Butler, Pa. But they said the arrest of Mr. Merchant — who had recently spent two weeks in Iran — had disrupted what they characterized as a far-ranging plot that also included seeking to steal computer files from U.S. officials. U.S. i