Three influential GOP senators about to play key roles in the next Congress are escalating pressure on the Homeland Security Department, FBI and Secret Service, concerned the agencies aren’t doing enough to protect President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers from retaliatory and assassination threats posed by Iran.
In a letter to agency heads, Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; and Rand Paul, R-Ky., cited reporting from Just the News that revealed how a Pakistani man named Asif Merchant who was plotting with Tehran to assassinate Trump was permitted into the country earlier this year by the Biden administration even though officials flagged him on a watch list and knew he had traveled recently to Iran. Merchant, a Pakistani native, was waived into the country and granted a “Significant Public Benefit Parole.”
The senators expressed their concerns to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe and Attorney General Merrick Garland that inquiries about the Merchant episode have not been answered. They also said that they have received additional information suggesting DHS and the Secret Service don’t have enough resources to protect all current and former officials facing threats from Iran.
“Given the reported threats, we want to know what rubric is used to assess the threat and provide a protective detail, including an explanation with respect to why that hasn’t been done in all cases,” the senators wrote in a letter obtained by Just the News.
“The lack of security calls into question how the USSS assesses threats from Iran and how those threat assessments are used to decide who receives protection and what type of security measures are included,” they added.
Merchant was waived into the country and granted a “Significant Public Benefit Parole” but information on how and why that happened has not been provided, the senators noted.
“Senator Grassley raised concerns regarding Merchant’s arrival in Houston, where he was reportedly interviewed by the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) because he was reportedly flagged by DHS with the identifier ‘WATCH LIST’ and listed as a ‘Lookout Qualified Person of Interest,’” their letter noted.
"Reportedly, despite being flagged, Merchant was granted ‘Significant Public Benefit Parole by DHS.’ To date, this letter has yet to receive a response,” the lawmakers complained.
Merchant was indicted in September on charges of attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries and murder-for-hire as part of a scheme with Iran to assassinate Trump. He is being held without bail.
Iran has openly threatened Trump in videos and statements, as well as the U.S. national security officials who helped him conduct a drone strike in 2020 that assassinated Qassem Soleimani, then Iran’s most powerful military general and a known terrorist.
Trump’s team was briefed recently on the wave of threats and plots against him and his advisers and a top prosecutor has called the dynamic extremely worrying.
“This is extraordinarily serious,” Matt Olsen, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for national security, told Politico recently. “Iran has made it very clear that they are determined to seek retaliation against former officials in connection with the Soleimani strike.”
Trump said as recently as this week that all options are on the table related to Iran and the threats against him, including military action. "Anything can happen,” the President-elect said in an interview with NBC News.
Homeland officials have also confirmed Just the News reporting on another suspected assassin, Ryan Routh, an American who is charged with planning to shoot Trump at a Florida golf course in September. DHS officials admit Routh was flagged by border agents on his return from Ukraine but did not follow up with an interview as was urged.
The three senators who authored Thursday's letter are all slated to play major roles in the new Senate that convenes on Jan. 3: Grassley will serve as Judiciary Committee Chairman, Paul will serve as Homeland Security Chairman and Johnson will lead the powerful Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the chamber's top oversight body.
The senators' letter asked the federal agencies to respond to their earlier inquiries and also to provide:
- Classified and unclassified briefings on the Iran threat to current and former government officials;
- All communications between FBI and DOJ with the USSS related to Iranian threats, including against all former and current government officials;
- Answers on how the FBI or DOJ advise the USSS on threat levels for former and current government officials; and
- A list of current and former government officials that are receiving protection from cyberattacks and cyber-threats from Iran.
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