Seddique Mateen, the father of the Orlando nightclub gunman, insisted his son was not motivated by Islamist radical ideology and did not appear agitated or angry the day before the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
#Orlando gay nightclub massacre gunman identified as Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, 29. pic.twitter.com/d4EMkwAPtW
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) June 12, 2016
During his massacre of 49 people at the Pulse gay club in Orlando Seddique pledged his support for ISIS.
His father said he did not believe it was a genuine pledge of support to the Islamic State.
Now there are photos of Seddique Mateen on Capitol Hill with several top lawmakers.
Mateen recently visited Congress, the State Department and wrote open letters to Barack Obama.
Seddique Mateen with Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY)
Little is known about the personal life of Omar Mateen, the man who pledged allegiance to ISIS before butchering more than 50 people inside an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning, but his political activist father, who is running for President of Afghanistan, seems to have an odd relationship with the U.S. Government and sympathies toward the Taliban.
Here is what we know about the Orlando shooter’s father:
His name is Seddique Mateen and he is from Afghanistan.
Mateen told NBC News early on Sunday that his son became angry while seeing two men kiss.
“We were in Downtown Miami, Bayside, people were playing music, and he saw two men kissing each other in front of his wife and kid and he got very angry. They were kissing each other and touching each other and he said, ‘Look at that. In front of my son they are doing that.’ And they we were in the men’s bathroom and men were kissing each other.’”
Mateen has his own television show, which broadcasts out of California.
It is called the “Durand Jirga Show” and features Mateen discussing Middle Eastern politics. The show is posted on YouTube.
According to the Washington post, the show demonstrates the Orlando shooters father’s sympathetic views toward the Taliban:
In one video, Mateen expresses gratitude toward the Afghan Taliban, while denouncing the Pakistani government.
“Our brothers in Waziristan, our warrior brothers in [the] Taliban movement and national Afghan Taliban are rising up,” he said. “Inshallah the Durand Line issue will be solved soon.”
This April, Mateen was in Washington DC doing advocacy work with Congress and the State Department
Seddique Mateen is an effusive poster on social media. The following posts from his Facebook describe a trip to Washington DC in April. He can be seen posing in front of State Department offices & the Democratic Foreign Services Committee offices.
Seddique Mateen with Rep. Ed Royce, the Chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Seddique Mateen with Rep. Dana Rohrabacher on Capitol Hill.