I opposed the confirmation of Loretta Lynch to be Attorney General because her confirmation hearing testimony led me to believe that she would be too political in her handling of the job, just as Eric Holder had been.On the Sunday morning shows today Lynch demonstrated, once again, a troubling politicization of the function of the Department of Justice.Lynch announced that the audio of the 911 calls from Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen will not be released, and the transcripts will remove the portion where he pledged allegiance to ISIS.Real Clear Politics reports, Lynch: “Partial Transcript” Of Orlando 911 Calls Will Have References To Islamic Terrorism RemovedShare Video:
In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd, Attorney General Loretta Lynch says that on Monday, the FBI will release edited transcripts of the 911 calls made by the Orlando nightclub shooter to the police during his rampage.”What we’re not going to do is further proclaim this man’s pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups, and further his propaganda,” Lynch said. “We are not going to hear him make his assertions of allegiance [to the Islamic State].”…Loretta Lynch says the FBI will release: “A printed transcript [that] will begin to capture the back and forth between him and the negotiators.””We’re trying to get as much information about this investigation out as possible,” she said.Transcript:
LORETTA LYNCH: What we’re announcing tomorrow is that the FBI is releasing a partial transcript of the killer’s calls with law enforcement, from inside the club. These are the calls with the Orlando PD negotiating team, who he was, where he was… that will be coming out tomorrow and I’ll be headed to Orlando on Tuesday.CHUCK TODD: Including the hostage negotiation part of this?LYNCH: Yes, it will be primarily a partial transcript of his calls with the hostage negotiators.CHUCK TODD: You say partial, what’s being left out?LYNCH: What we’re not going to do is further proclaim this man’s pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups, and further his propaganda.CHUCK TODD: We’re not going to hear him talk about those things?LYNCH: We will hear him talk about some of those things, but we are not going to hear him make his assertions of allegiance and that. It will not be audio, it will be a printed transcript. But it will begin to capture the back and forth between him and the negotiators, we’re trying to get as much information about this investigation out as possible. As you know, because the killer is dead, we have a bit more leeway there and we will be producing that information tomorrow.
Lynch repeated the intended censorship on ABC News:
“We’ll be releasing a partial transcript of the calls between the killer and the hostage negotiators so people can, in fact, see the type of interaction that was had there,” Lynch told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on “This Week” Sunday….The Attorney General says she’ll travel to Orlando on Tuesday to get an on-the-ground perspective on the investigation.“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.”
She doesn’t want to re-victimize the people who were harmed? By revealing the portion of the transcript which reveals the shooter’s motive?
Calling BS on that. This is all about Obama’s attempt to extricate the reality of Mateen’s Islamic terror motivations from the public discourse.
A Legal Insurrection commenter makes another good point — how does DOJ override state Freedom of Information laws?
By what authority does Lynch usurp Florida law. Were the 911 tapes seized by the FBI? Were the police department 911 computers wiped clean? What country are we living in?911 tapes are covered by Florida open records law:“119.07 Inspection and copying of records; photographing public records; fees; exemptions.—(1)(a) Every person who has custody of a public record shall permit the record to be inspected and copied by any person desiring to do so, at any reasonable time, under reasonable conditions, and under supervision by the custodian of the public records.”“Where a public record contains some information which is exempt from disclosure, s. 119.07(2)(a), F.S., requires the custodian of the document to delete or excise that portion or portions of the record for which the exemption is asserted and to provide the remainder of the record for inspection.”https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/119.07Section 365.171(15), F.S., exempts from disclosure those records or information which reveals the name, address, or telephone number of a person requesting or reporting an emergency through the “911” system. The exemption, however, is limited to the name, address, and telephone number when in the custody of the agency receiving the initial “911” telephone call.https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/365.171The police department is under a duty pursuant to s. 119.07(2)(a), F.S., to delete the exempt material and to release the rest of the record for inspection and copyingLynch is making it far worse by hiding what is in the tapes.Let’s pray that some news organization or Judicial Watch files an immediate lawsuit.
My concerns about Lynch that led me to oppose her confirmation have been realized.
She gave a political stump speech in reaction to the North Carolina bathroom law, and now she’s depriving the public of its right to know what this killer said in order to shape the political landscape to the administration’s liking.
Eric Holder was in office far longer, and certainly did a lot of damage. But Lynch is moving quickly to catch up.
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