Iranian plot to assassinate Trump: Three people indicted by Justice Department
Prosecutors allege that Shakeri was also ordered by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps to carry out other assassinations against U.S. and Israeli citizens within the United States and that an IRGC official offered him $500,000 for the murder of any of the victims.
Donald Trump arrives on stage to deliver a speech from the Palm Beach Convention Center.
The Justice Department reported that it filed federal charges against three people in a foiled Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump ahead of the presidential election.
"The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump. We have also charged and arrested two individuals who we allege were recruited as part of that network to silence and kill, on U.S. soil, an American journalist who has been a prominent critic of the regime. We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security," said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a statement.
The Justice Department noted that "Iranian asset Farhad Shakeri employed multiple associates in the New York City area to surveil and murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who has publicly opposed the Iranian government.”
In addition, prosecutors claim that Shakeri was originally ordered by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to carry out other assassinations against U.S. and Israeli citizens within the United States. According to the DOJ, the terrorists told Shakeri on October 7 to focus only on Trump and that he was to formulate an assassination plan.
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"He also stated he was tasked with surveilling two Jewish American citizens residing in New York City and offered $500,000 by an IRGC official for the murder of either victim,” the DOJ detailed.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray argued that the announced charges highlight Iran's ongoing attempts to target U.S. citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders and dissidents critical of the Tehran regime.
"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a designated foreign terrorist organization — has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on U.S. soil and that simply won’t be tolerated,” Wray stressed.
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