PHOTO: Organizers of three Taylor Swift concerts in the Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna this week called them off on Wednesday after officials thwarted a terrorist plot to attack an event. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)
Law enforcement officials averted two separate terror plots that would have resulted in a devastating loss of life. One involved a plot to "kill as many people as possible" at one or more Taylor Swift concerts in Austria. The other involved the plan to assassinate former President Trump and other public officials.
Swift abruptly canceled three concerts in Vienna this week, citing concerns for safety after authorities arrested two suspects in an alleged terror plot against the site. They are both male teenagers who are Austrian citizens. Police say one had recently pledged allegiance to the terror group ISIS, after becoming radicalized on the internet.
FBI Special Agent Richard Frankel told ABC News, "ISIS is still out there. They are still online. They are still recruiting."
A raid on one of the suspect's homes uncovered what appeared to be bomb-making materials. One of the two confessed to planning to "kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue."
"The situation surrounding the planned terrorist attack in Vienna was very serious," Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer said in a statement. "The threat was recognized early, combated, and tragedy prevented."
ISIS has not claimed responsibility, but it has been behind attacks at other concerts. In March, gunmen killed 60 people at a theatre in Moscow.
Swift plans to continue her tour next week in England.
Meanwhile, in a separate event in the U.S., officials arrested a Pakistani man with ties to Iran for plotting to assassinate former President Donald Trump and other public officials. The 46-year-old suspect, Asif Merchant, was arrested last month and charged by the Justice Department with murder for hire.
A newly unsealed criminal complaint says he sought to murder politicians of both parties, most notably the former President.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said his organization is, "charging an individual with ties to Iran who we allege sought to hire hit men to assassinate a politician on U.S. soil."
Prosecutors say Merchant spent two weeks in Iran before he flew to the U.S. where he paid people posing as gunmen-for-hire to carry-out the killings.
"The defendant met with several individuals in New York who he thought were hit men but who were in fact undercover law enforcement officers," Garland said.
Fox News reports the Justice Department was tracking Merchant and allowed him to enter the country to gather evidence and charge him. He was arrested on July 12, the day before a gunman attempted to assassinate former President Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.
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