The Pakistani national with links to Iran who was arrested for allegedly plotting a political assassination on American soil was admitted into the United States via immigration parole for the "significant public benefit," multiple federal law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation told Fox News.

In April, Asif Merchant, 46, flew into Houston where he encountered U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. The FBI sponsored his parole for "security interests," the law enforcement sources said. 

The FBI had eyes on Merchant before he arrived in the U.S. and needed him to physically enter the country so they could build a case and arrest him. If they arrested him at customs, they would not have been able to gather evidence and information about his plot, the sources said. 

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Fox News was told the method is not uncommon. 

Merchant was arrested on July 12 while trying to leave the country, federal prosecutors said. 

Days after arriving in Houston, he flew to New York City and worked with a person he believed to be a hit man in a murder-for-hire plot, which he wanted to be carried out in August or September, the Justice Department said. 

The hit man contacted the FBI and became a confidential source for the law enforcement agency. 

Merchant was potentially targeting former President Trump. The plot has no ties to Trump being shot during a July 13 campaign rally in Pennsylvania. 

Merchant told authorities he has a wife and children in Iran and a wife and children in Pakistan. Iran has not confirmed or denied being involved in the alleged murder-for-hire scheme. 

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"The Justice Department has brought multiple cases against individuals working on behalf of the Iranian government to lethally target Americans in the United States," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Tuesday. "But as I said last week, we expect that these threats will continue and that these cases will not be the last."

Security concerns related to Trump and his former advisers have been raised before about possible retaliation from Tehran for a 2020 airstrike that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

"We have not received any reports on this matter from the U.S. Government," the Iranian Permanent Mission to the United Nations told Fox News Digital this week. "However, it is evident that the modus operandi in question contradicts the Iranian Government’s policy of legally prosecuting the murderer of General Soleimani." 

When the United States women's gymnastics team won gold in Paris, Simone Biles clapped back at a former teammate.

Tokyo Olympic gymnast MyKayla Skinner called out the 2024 team's work ethic, "besides Simone," in a since-deleted video.

Biles posted a collage of photos on Instagram showing her and her teammates carrying the American flag across the floor to celebrate their gold medal victory in the team final. 

In her post on Instagram, Biles did not mince words.

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"Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions," she wrote.

In an interview with PEOPLE, Biles defended calling out her ex-teammate, saying she needed to take the "team lead" for her teammates as a three-time Olympian.

"It's important because you have to teach them to use their voices. And if not, you're a voice for the voiceless, which is okay," Biles said. "I just felt like it was right in that moment to stand up for them, because they're so young and they haven't fully stood in their power yet."

"For somebody to stand up, I know it meant a lot for [my teammates]," Biles added.

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Skinner said in her newest video she thought she had made up with Biles and was "heartbroken" over what the war of words has now become. She added that she received death threats, and pleaded for Biles to tell her fanbase to cool it.

"Simone’s latest post and others that followed it fueled another wave of hateful comments, DMs, articles and emails. Hate that includes death threats to me, my family and even my agent. My family and my friends don’t deserve to be caught in the crossfire here. They’ve done nothing," Skinner said.

"To Simone, I am asking you directly and publicly to please put a stop to this. Please ask your followers to stop. You have been an incredible champion for mental health awareness, and a lot of people need your help now. We’ve been attacked in ways that I’m certain you never intended. Your performance, the team’s performance and the Olympics in general should be a time that we support one another."

Biles won two more golds in Paris and also brought home a silver medal.

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