Merchant, 47, pleaded not guilty to attempted terrorism and other federal charges when the trial opened Wednesday in New York, according to prosecutors and defense statements described in court coverage. The case centers on the government’s allegation that the defendant tried to arrange the killing of a U.S. politician, potentially President Donald Trump, during the 2024 campaign.
Prosecutors told jurors that Merchant met with people he believed were hit men and paid them $5,000, but those individuals were undercover FBI agents. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nina Gupta said Merchant was arrested before he provided a name to target, and she argued that Merchant told an intermediary it would be “someone who was hurting Pakistan and the Muslim world.”
As the government presented its case, prosecutors described Merchant’s planning as more specific than a vague threat. They said Merchant roughed out a scenario in June 2024 that involved shooting a political figure at a rally and then staging a protest as a diversion for the killer to escape, as described through testimony and material shown to jurors during the trial.
The court heard testimony from the intermediary, Nadeem Ali, who described conversations with Merchant over two days in which Merchant asked him to line up hit men. Ali testified in court, and coverage of the opening stage states that he told the anonymous jury in Brooklyn federal court, “I was shocked,” while recording interactions played to jurors were described as recordings Ali made for the FBI.
Prosecutors also said a court filing last month indicated searches for Trump rally locations on Merchant’s laptop. They said the alleged plot was hatched weeks before an unrelated July 13, 2024, attempt to assassinate Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which the attacker was killed by a Secret Service sniper, and they said officials later described tracking a threat connected to Iran without finding a link to the Butler shooter.
Iran, in response to the threat allegation described in the coverage, called the claim “unsubstantiated and malicious,” while the government’s account of the Merchant case did not suggest an operational link to that separate incident. In opening arguments, prosecutors said the purported plot involved plans centered on a rally scenario, and they said they have not publicly stated how many other potential targets Merchant allegedly considered.
The defense, represented by Christopher Neff, portrayed Merchant as someone who lived a deeply religious life and as a dedicated father, while also describing him as having two families, one in Pakistan and one in Iran. Neff told jurors that Merchant was in the United States as a visitor, and he urged jurors to consider whether prosecutors were trying to fit evidence into a single narrative, saying, “He counts on you not to simply accept the narrative the government is trying to shoehorn the evidence into, but also to think about the rest of the story told by that evidence.”
Ali testified that Merchant approached him about getting involved in a T-shirt business. Ali said that as he spent more time with Merchant, he found the changing terms “shady” and noticed cars following him, prompting him to contact the FBI in May 2024 and begin recording his interactions with Merchant, according to the trial coverage.
The case also highlights a broader controversy over sting operations. Coverage of the trial said the FBI has foiled several alleged attacks through stings in which agents posed as terror supporters by supplying advice or equipment, and it noted that critics argue such strategies can amount to entrapment.