Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released FBI documents that implicated Iran in a plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, and ex-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
Grassley revealed the records on Thursday after obtaining them from legally protected law enforcement whistleblowers, according to Fox News.
The documents disappeared from Grassley’s public Senate page on Thursday evening. The Washington Examiner reached out to the senator’s office concerning the deletion but did not receive a response.
However, the documents released by the senator, reviewed by outlets such as the New York Post, detailed for the first time federal investigators’ interview with a man charged with an Iranian-backed plot to assassinate Trump. Asif Merchant, a Pakistani man, said he discussed assassination strategies on American political figures with a handler named Mehardad Yousef.
The FBI documents released by Grassley showed that the plot to target “politicians, military people or bureaucrats” included Haley and Biden. Information previously made public indicated Trump was the country’s prime target in revenge for his role in killing Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.
“Merchant asked Yousef what he should say to the mafia if they asked who would be the object of the killing,” the whistleblowers’ disclosures read. “Yousef stated that it could be Donald Trump, then paused, and stated that it could be Joe Biden or Nikki Haley, or politicians, military people, or bureaucrats.”
Grassley warned in a statement that “federal agencies ought to be laser-focused on building up public trust and reassuring the American people of their efforts to carry out their protective missions.”
“I won’t stop pressing for answers until Congress and the American people are afforded the transparency they deserve,” he added.
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The Iowa senator’s move to release the whistleblowers’ revelations to the public was not appreciated by the FBI.
“The FBI does not comment specifically on documents allegedly disclosed without authorization,” the agency said in a statement to Fox News. “Public disclosure about sensitive, ongoing national security investigations and potential cooperation from subjects is irresponsible and undermines the FBI’s ability to conduct thorough investigations and enforcement actions that keep Americans safe. It also puts lives at risk, especially when you are dealing with an adversary like Iran.”
