The Obama administration’s Department of Justice changed course Monday and released the unredacted transcript of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen’s 911 call.
Though it was known that Mateen, who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando last week, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation blacked out all references to the terrorist organization in their publicly released transcript.
In response to criticism, the FBI defended its decision to blackout the text Monday, but ultimately gave in to calls to release the transcript in full.
“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,” the Justice Department and FBI wrote in a joint statement. “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.”
House speaker Paul Ryan called the redactions ” preposterous” in a statement Monday.
“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,” he wrote.
