In the aftermath of the controversial omitting of references to Islamic State and its leader from the first version of the publicly released transcript of a 911 call by Orlando nightclub terrorist Omar Mateen, Attorney General Loretta Lynch refused to say who had made that decision,
Politico reports.
"The initial thought was we did not want to provide a further platform for the propaganda of the killer," Lynch said. "Once it became an issue, we decided we would go ahead and release the full transcript."
Following the release of the edited transcript on Monday, Republicans harshly criticized what they suggested was another example of the Obama administration's reluctance to acknowledge the threat posed by radical Islam. The White House said it was not part of the initial decision or the reversal, insisting the FBI determined what material to release.
The full transcript provided to the public is of only one 50-second 911 call by Mateen, but the vast majority of his communications with police has not been released, Politico reports
Lynch continued to suggest that in addition to "online radicalization," anti-gay bias was also a motivation for the attack, but nothing provided by investigators indicates any sign of Mateen expressing hatred towards the LGBT community.
The New Yorker wrote that Lynch’s reason for the initial editing, out of respect for the victims, would be reasonable if the cries of those who died could be heard, but it makes little sense to awkwardly leave out facts that the public already knew.
The publication also questioned the entire thought process involved in the decision, asking, "Why treat the proclamations of the shooter as if they were somehow potentially inspiring, rather than damning?"
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