Earlier, her aides had tried to play down his presence by saying in an email that “The rally was a 3,000-person, open-door event for the public”.
Advertisement
According to video of the event, Mateen also got close to Clinton while she greeted supporters after the rally. “When you get those seats you sort of know the campaign, so when she said well we didn’t knew, he knew, they knew”, Trump said.
At another point during the rally, the Republican nominee called President Barack Obama “the founder of ISIS” – and doubled-down on that outrageous and unfounded claim by calling Hillary Clinton the “co-founder” of the terror group.
Not only is there nearly no reason at all to report on Mateen’s attendance at Hillary’s rally beyond the merits of his own publicity-seeking, there is exactly zero reason to include it in a segment about Trump’s remark, unless you’re either trying to draw a false equivalence between the two, or are actively trying to become a living CNN Decoder Ring, because that’s also why CNN covered it, and why they bring up Hillary’s weak polling internals every time Trump craps the bed. Mateen is shown standing in the crowd wearing a red hat. Afterward, he told a local TV station that he is supporting Clinton.
On Tuesday, following an event she held in Miami, a reporter asked Clinton why Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen’s father was in a prominent location behind her at the event.
Mateen reportedly didn’t want to do the interview at first, but WPTV caught up with him again at a rest stop as they were headed back to West Palm Beach after the rally. Seddique went on to explain why he attended the Kissimmee rally in support of Hillary Clinton.
Clinton’s campaign denied that it sent a personal invitation to Mateen, and by Wednesday it had completely distanced itself from the man who seemed to be supportive of Clinton. “I was invited by the Democratic Party; I’m a member”.
The statement that Merrill released is referring to Seddique Mateen’s radical political views. Mateen’s controversial insane views on Afghan politics and homosexuality emerged after the shooting.
Seddique Mateen may have been saddened his son’s action’s in Orlando, but the father has previously expressed anti-American sentiments and has even been sympathetic to the Taliban. What attracts a terrorist, which is what he is, this guy was on radio saying awful anti- American things, supports the Taliban, this is a guy who said God should punish homosexuals. Giuliani asked. “I know what attracts him to her”.
Advertisement
Foley told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel he has been a long-time friend of Trump’s and has found him to be “a different breed of leader and a different breed of candidate”.
