“This individual wasn’t invited as a guest and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event”, he said.
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After spending most of Tuesday responding little to questions about why the father of the Orlando night club shooter was at their rally, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign responded more forcefully late Tuesday night rejecting Seddique Mateen’s support for her.
While Hillary paid tribute to the 49 people killed by radical Islamic terrorist Omar Mateen, his dad Seddique cheered and waved an American flag in the audience (see video). GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump argued that had Mateen shown up at one of his rallies, the Republican would be demonized by the media.
“I know how many people, family members, loved ones, friends are still grieving”, Clinton said Monday.
“When you get those seats, you sort of know the campaign”.
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.
When WPTV first tried to interview him on Monday after his rally appearance, he said only that he’d been “cooperating” with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Following the event, Mateen – who condemned his son’s actions, but said gay people should be “punished by God” – was quizzed about his reasons for attending. He is a Taliban sympathizer with strongly anti-homosexual views, yet he was invited as a Democrat to Clinton’s event.
“Hillary Clinton is good for the United States versus Donald Trump, who has no solutions”, Seddique Mateen told WPTV.
He also referred to his son, Omar, saying: “I spoke a lot about that and wish that my son joined the Army and fought ISIS”.
“That would be much better”, he told WPTV.
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The Washington Post reported Mateeen made a $250 donation to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2015 and he likely was on party’s mailing lists.
