A federal jury in Brooklyn on Friday convicted a Pakistani national accused of working with Iranian operatives to orchestrate a plot to assassinate Donald Trump at a campaign rally during the 2024 presidential race.

The defendant, Asif Merchant, 48, was found guilty of murder-for-hire and terrorism-related charges after jurors deliberated for less than two hours.

Prosecutors said Merchant was recruited by Iranian intelligence-linked handlers and traveled to the United States in 2024 to arrange the assassination. His plan unraveled after a potential recruit alerted federal authorities, prompting the FBI to launch an undercover sting.

Merchant was arrested in August 2024 while attempting to leave the country, shortly before the alleged plot was to be carried out.

Evidence presented at trial showed Merchant meeting with individuals he believed were hired killers at a motel in Queens.

During the June 2024 meeting at the Floral Park Motor Lodge, prosecutors said Merchant used a sheet of notebook paper to sketch a rudimentary diagram of a rally venue, marking a large rectangle for the crowd and a smaller box for the stage.

He then indicated where Trump would stand and placed a vape on the drawing to represent the target.

“This is the target,” Merchant told the supposed hitmen, according to trial testimony. “How will it die?”

The men he believed were assassins were in fact undercover FBI agents, authorities said.

Prosecutors also presented evidence that Merchant handed over $5,000 payments to two individuals he believed were contract killers as an advance for the assassination.

Merchant took the stand in his own defense, telling jurors that he had been recruited by an Iranian handler who assigned him several possible missions, including carrying out a killing.

According to his testimony, the handler mentioned three potential targets in the 2024 presidential race: Trump, Joe Biden and Nikki Haley.

Merchant said he was promised up to $1 million depending on the outcome.

But his attorneys argued that he was coerced into participating in the scheme because relatives living in Iran had been threatened. Defense lawyer Avi Moskowitz told jurors that Merchant felt he had no choice but to cooperate with the individuals directing him.

“He had family in Iran who he thought was in danger,” Moskowitz said during closing arguments.

Prosecutors disputed that claim, noting that Merchant never mentioned threats against his family when first questioned after his arrest. An FBI agent testified that Merchant spoke about killing Trump for money and as retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

During cross-examination, Merchant acknowledged he believed the people he was dealing with were real contract killers and that he understood his handler was connected to a group the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization.

Merchant now faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced later this year.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)