The Iranian agent who plotted the assassinations of Trump and others was let into the country three months before he was arrested so he could hang himself.
The FBI had been monitoring Asif Merchant abroad and let him into the country so they could build a case against him.
Here’s more from Bill Melugin:
Per multiple federal law enforcement sources to me and @davidspunt, the Pakistani national w/ Iranian ties who was arrested by the FBI for plotting an assassination on US soil was admitted into the US via parole for “significant public benefit” when CBP encountered him at the airport in TX in April after he flew in from overseas, and the sponsor of his parole was the FBI’s Dallas office, for “security interests”.
We are told the FBI had intelligence on Asif Merchant before he arrived in the US, and needed him to physically come into the country to develop the case on him and arrest him, and that if they had arrested him at Customs, they would not have been able to gather evidence and information about his plot.
Fox is told this method is not an uncommon tactic.
Merchant was arrested on July 12th, nearly three months after he was admitted into the US. The FBI had eyes on him during this time, and utilized numerous undercover agents, who Merchant thought were hitmen he was hiring.
For background purposes, when a noncitizen encounters DHS, the agency has discretion to offer a humanitarian parole grant to admit them into the US. Typically, it is a 2 year grant and allows them to apply for work authorization. Under US law, it has to be on a case by case basis, either for “urgent humanitarian reasons”, or “significant public benefit”. In this case – it was the latter, with the benefit being the active law enforcement investigation.
I really thought Melugin was going to say the FBI let him in the country for the purposes of assassinating Trump. I’m glad that’s not where this went and I’m impressed that the FBI did what it’s supposed to do best, in preventing this criminal from succeeding. That is assuming he had nothing to do with Crooks.