FO says in touch with US over Pakistani man charged in 'assassination plot'

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Wednesday it was in touch with the United States authorities after reports emerged that a Pakistani national allegedly charged in the US in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate an American politician or government officials.

“We have seen the media reports. We are in touch with the US authorities and await further details,” FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement.

The spokesperson said that they have also noted the statements by US officials that this is an ongoing investigation.

“Before giving our formal reaction, we also need to be sure of the antecedents of the individual in question,” she added.

A Pakistani man, Asif Merchant, with alleged ties to Iran has been charged in the United States in connection to a foiled plot to assassinate a U.S. politician or government officials, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.

FBI investigators believed that former President Donald Trump and other current and former U.S. government officials were the intended targets of the plot, CNN reported, citing a U.S. official.

Asif Merchant, 46, faces a charge of murder for hire in New York federal court.

Earlier, US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle admitted to Congress that she and her agency failed when a would-be assassin wounded Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a July 13 campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

“We failed,” Cheatle, who faces Republican calls for her removal, said in testimony before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee. “The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13th is the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades,” Cheatle said.

In the face of Republican claims that the Secret Service denied resources to protect Trump, she said security for the former president had grown ahead of the shooting.

The shooting at an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounded Trump in the ear, killed one rally attendee and injured another. The suspected shooter, 20-year-old nursing home aide Thomas Crooks, was killed by law enforcement. It is not clear what his motive was for the shooting.