Several hours after releasing transcripts of the Orlando terrorist’s 911 call that censored the word “ISIS,” President Obama’s Department of Justice reversed itself and re-released the transcript with the references to the Islamist terror group intact.
While he was terrorizing Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Omar Mateen made several phone calls to 911 and claimed allegiance to the Islamic State and its leader.
In a press conference this morning, an FBI agent explained that the agency would release transcripts of these calls, but would censor the word “ISIS” so as not to set off other “like-minded” people. The decision to redact the name of the radical Islamist terror group did nothing to conceal Mateen’s motivations, as the transcript was riddled with obvious indicators that his actions were terror-related. As The Federalist reported, the FBI director himself had stated that Mateen had claimed allegiance to ISIS and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, so their decision too retroactively censor themselves made no sense.
Here is the censored version of the 911 transcript:
2. The FBI has released an incomplete transcript of the calls Omar Mateen made during the attack: pic.twitter.com/UMvFHGRoPU
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) June 20, 2016
And the uncensored version the DOJ released several hours later:
Justice Department and FBI release unredacted Omar Mateen 911 call pic.twitter.com/FfHx8bzvXR
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 20, 2016
“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,” the DOJ said in a statement.
