The FBI kept in Omar Mateen’s pledge to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in the 911 transcript, but omitted the terrorist group’s name.
Mateen called 911 before he murdered 49 people at Pulse, a popular gay club in Orlando, FL. From the FBI news release:
Orlando Police Dispatcher (OD)Shooter (OM)OD: Emergency 911, this is being recorded.OM: In the name of God the Merciful, the beneficial [in Arabic]OD: What?OM: Praise be to God, and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God [in Arabic]. I let you know, I’m in Orlando and I did the shootings.OD: What’s your name?OM: My name is I pledge of allegiance to [omitted].OD: Ok, What’s your name?OM: I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted].OD: Alright, where are you at?OM: In Orlando.OD: Where in Orlando?[End of call.]
Mateen told the 911 operator he was in Orlando, but hung up after the operator asked for his specific location.
Three conversations occurred between the Orlando Police Department (OPD)’s Crisis Negotiation Team and Mateen. The FBI released summaries of these talks without the transcripts. But the department also omitted ISIS from the summaries:
In these calls, the shooter, who identified himself as an Islamic soldier, told the crisis negotiator that he was the person who pledged his allegiance to [omitted], and told the negotiator to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq and that is why he was “out here right now.” When the crisis negotiator asked the shooter what he had done, the shooter stated, “No, you already know what I did.”
In the first call, Mateen warned the OPD they will “see more this type of action going on.”
Attorney General Loretta Lynch appeared on Sunday morning shows to explain why the FBI would redact important information from the transcript. She told Chuck Todd on Meet The Press they omitted ISIS so they wouldn’t “further his propaganda.” She repeated her nonsense on ABC News:
“I say partial because we’re not going to be, for example, broadcasting his pledges of allegiance. We are trying not to re-victimize those who went through that horror,” she added. “We’re trying to get as much information about this investigation out as possible, and we want people to provide information that they have to us.”
Speaker Paul Ryan condemned the FBI’s decision in an email to the press:
“Selectively editing this transcript is preposterous. We know the shooter was a radical Islamist extremist inspired by ISIS. We also know he intentionally targeted the LGBT community. The administration should release the full, unredacted transcript so the public is clear-eyed about who did this, and why.”
A Legal Insurrection commentator asked how the FBI could do this to 911 recordings that belong to Florida. United States Attorney Lee Bentley said the redactions do not conflict with Florida law since the case “is a federal investigation.”
*UPDATE*
Well, look at that! The FBI released the FULL transcript, but they kept in GOD instead of changing it back to ALLAH.
*UPDATE 4:22PM*
The Department of Justice released this statement:
“The purpose of releasing the partial transcript of the shooter’s interaction with 911 operators was to provide transparency, while remaining sensitive to the interests of the surviving victims, their families, and the integrity of the ongoing investigation. We also did not want to provide the killer or terrorist organizations with a publicity platform for hateful propaganda. Unfortunately, the unreleased portions of the transcript that named the terrorist organizations and leaders have caused an unnecessary distraction from the hard work that the FBI and our law enforcement partners have been doing to investigate this heinous crime. As much of this information had been previously reported, we have re-issued the complete transcript to include these references in order to provide the highest level of transparency possible under the circumstances.”
Speaker Ryan expressed gratitude for the administration’s decision to release the transcript in this email to the press:
“I am glad that the administration reversed its decision and has now shared the full transcript with the American people. But this should have never been an issue in the first place. The attempt to selectively edit the record reflects a broader, more serious problem: this administration’s continued effort to downplay and distract from the threat of radical Islamist extremism. This is unacceptable. To defeat terrorism we have to be clear-eyed about whom we’re fighting.”
The transcript still says God instead of Allah, though.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY