- An Iraqi man allegedly told an FBI informant he wanted to "murder" former President George W. Bush.
- The allegation is made in an FBI search warrant obtained by Forbes and NBC News.
- The suspect was arrested Tuesday morning.
A man in Ohio told an FBI informant that he wanted to "murder former President George W. Bush," according to an FBI search warrant affidavit first obtained by NBC News and Forbes.
The FBI accuses Shihab Ahmed Shihab, an Iraqi citizen living in Columbus, Ohio, of seeking to kill the former US president over the 2003 invasion of Iraq, per the affidavit seen by NBC News.
The search warrant claims that the man told the FBI informant that he was in contact with operatives for the Islamic State.
Shihab is currently in custody, according to NBC News. He has not yet been charged with any crime.
According to Forbes, the plot was uncovered with the help of two informants as well as the suspect's WhatsApp account, which the FBI was monitoring, one of the informants having given Shihab the phone that he was using. In the search warrant, the FBI claims that Shihab told an informant about the alleged plot in November 2021. In subsequent conversations, Shihab is accused by authorities of boasting that he was in touch with "the secretary of an ISIS financial minister."
Per law enforcement, Shihab asserted that he was part of a small group of men that would try to assassinate Bush, wih his job being to scout out the former president's residence in Dallas, Texas, as well as the George W. Bush Institute.
In March 2022, the FBI says Shihab met with others in a Columbus hotel room to look at samples of firearms and law enforcement uniforms that could be used to carry out the plot.
In a news release, the FBI said that Shihab entered the US in September 2020 on a tourist visa before seeking aslyum; his application is still pending review. He stands accused of seeking to illegally smuggle others into the United States, seeking the assistance of a person who turned out to be working for the FBI.