(CNN) –– An Iraqi citizen residing in Columbus, Ohio, was arrested Tuesday and faces federal charges related to an alleged plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush, the Justice Department reported.
Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab is charged with supporting and abetting the attempted murder of a former US official, as well as an immigration offense for his alleged attempt to bring foreign nationals into the country illegally.
According to the Justice Department, Shihab is accused of trying to smuggle four Iraqi citizens to the United States as part of a plot.
“President Bush fully trusts the United States Secret Service and our security and intelligence communities,” Bush’s chief of staff, Freddy Ford, said in a written statement.
Prior to the Justice Department announcement, CNN obtained court documents that revealed the FBI was investigating a plot against Bush, in which Shihab was allegedly involved to the point that it led to the former president’s Dallas neighborhood.
The investigation was revealed in a sealed application, filed on March 23, for a search warrant for the phone calls of the person identified as Shihab, who entered the US in September 2020.
The FBI discovered the plot through confidential informants, one of whom recorded discussions about the assassination plot with Shihab in meetings late last year and through the spring, the documents reveal. There is no indication in the documents that former President Bush was ever in any danger.
The documents describe alleged plans to bring Iraqi nationals illegally into the U.S. They also note that Shihab discussed “a plot to assassinate former President BUSH” and an attempt to “provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, specifically ISIS.” ”.
The application for a search warrant, which was filed in the Southern District of Ohio, was initially reported Forbes.
According to the documents, one of those conversations allegedly occurred in November during a trip Shihab and the informant took from Columbus, Ohio, to the Detroit area and back again. The two reportedly discussed smuggling four Iraqi citizens into the US as part of the plot to assassinate Bush, as well as the fact that the former president had a home and farm in Texas.
In February, during face-to-face meetings in Dallas that documents say were recorded, Shihab and the informant drove to the neighborhood of Bush’s Dallas residence, while Shihab took video of the gate to the neighborhood and the surrounding area.
During the February meetings, Shihab and the whistleblower also traveled to the George W. Bush Institute, where they walked, the documents indicate.