Double standard? Tulsi Gabbard on watchlist while terror suspect let go to plan assassinations

While the Biden administration placed former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on a watchlist, the FBI released into the U.S. on a special parole the Pakistani man who sought to plan an assassination of Donald Trump and other politicians.

According to several whistleblowers, Gabbard – a military officer and former Hawaii congresswoman and presidential candidate – was placed on a watchlist under Quiet Skies, a TSA surveillance program designed to focus law enforcement resources on travelers that present an elevated risk to aviation security.

Gabbard confirmed the heightened security attention on her in an interview with journalist Matt Taibi. “The whistleblowers’ account matches my experience,” Gabbard said. “Everything lines up to the day.” 

She described how when she boarded a flight, TSA agents conducted a thorough screening, patting down every inch, searching all corners of her luggage, and individually inspected her electronic devices. 

“I’ve got a couple of blazers in there, and they’re squeezing every inch of the entire collar, every inch of the sleeves, every inch of the edging of the blazers,” she told Taibi. “They’re squeezing or padding down underwear, bras, workout clothes, every inch of every piece of clothing.”

Yet, while the government surveilled Gabbard, the FBI allowed Asif Raza Merchant to enter the U.S. in April with special permission known as “significant public benefit parole” even though he was flagged on a terrorism watchlist and recently traveled to Iran, according to government documents reviewed and reported on by Just the News.

Merchant would later go on to organize an assassination plot targeting U.S. politicians, though he ended up trying to recruit undercover law enforcement as the hitmen leading to his arrest shortly before his attempt to leave the country.

House Oversight Committee member Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin Republican, said that FBI’s tactic to let Merchant enter the country to gather evidence on him created a “dangerous situation.”

“Well, that's the rationale, believe it or not. We’re going to let this guy in, that's what the FBI is saying, We’re going to let this guy in. He seems like a pretty dangerous guy. So let's see what he's going to do. Let's see what else he's going to contact,” Grothman told the Just the News, No Noise TV show Thursday.

The documents reviewed by Just the News show the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force interviewed Merchant, fingerprinted him and inspected the contents of his electronic devices when he arrived at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, in Houston, but then let him leave with the special parole that expired on May 11.

"Subject was polite and cooperative throughout encounter,” the FBI interview memo reads. “Subject's notable travel outside of country of citizenship includes a recent trip to Iran.”

Merchant wasn't arrested until July 12, after a confidential human source ascertained he had tried to line up assassins and was planning to leave the United States, the FBI said.

The FBI declined to comment about the documents obtained by Just the News. But, the JTTF interview summary and immigration records give some rich detail about what the bureau knew before it allowed Merchant to enter the country and what conditions they placed on his entry.

The immigration records from his arrival in Houston on April 13 clearly stated in bright red that he was flagged by the Department of Homeland Security database with the identifier “WATCH LIST” and denoted as a "Lookout Qualified Person of Interest.”

Despite direct travel to a country with known terrorist activity, the memo relays that Merchant was “released without incident” into the United States and was “free to travel to desired destination,” which was listed as a family member's home in Texas.

The Justice Department says Merchant tried to hire an individual for an assassination plot shortly after he entered the country in April and that individual become a confidential informant for law enforcement after reporting the contact.

Merchant reportedly asked the informant about various methods to carry out an assassination attempt.

He also told the confidential source that the planned assassination would occur after he left the United States and that he would communicate with the individual to relay instructions. However, law enforcement intercepted Merchant before he left the country. 

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said this new revelation would spur a probe from his office.

”Well, obviously, the way DHS and the FBI are spinning this is they have this well under control," Johnson told the Just the News, No Noise TV show Thursday.

"This is pretty much a sting operation, which is why I've written an oversight letter. Hopefully we'll get the chairman of our committees and a ranking member to join this letter to try and get the truth out of those agencies.

“I don't necessarily expect them to respond, but these are the questions need to be be asked and answered. Was this really a sophisticated operation, or was this just a bungled operation? They were fortunate that nothing horrible happened because the results of it."

Johnson also said that allowing dangerous individuals into the country gives people “a false sense of security” that the intelligence agencies “have things under control.”

Yet, he said, “It's completely out of control when you let millions of people in this country that you do not know who they are—and more than 2 million got-aways – you absolutely don't know who those folks are.”

Meanwhile, a fellow member of the Republican congressional conference, wants to know why Gabbard was on the TSA watch list.

Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett on Thursday wrote to agency Administrator David P. Pekoske, saying he found Gabbard being on the TSA watchlist "profoundly troubling for a number of reasons" and requested a meeting with him and whoever is in charge of the Quiet Skies program to discuss the report.

In the Merchant case, prosecutors unsealed a complaint against him earlier this week, charging him with organizing a “murder-for-hire” plot in a scheme to assassinate U.S. politicians or government officials. Justice Department and FBI officials said Merchant was working “on behalf of others overseas” and pointed the finger at Iran.

The revelation that he was stopped at a port of entry but permitted to enter the United States, even with terror ties, follows a report from the House Judiciary Committee that found the Biden administration’s DHS released 99 individuals on the terrorist watch list into the country between fiscal years 2021 and 2023 and has 34 others in custody who have not yet been removed.