Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign is disavowing support from Seddique Mateen after he attended the candidate's rally in Florida earlier this week, The Washington Times reports.
Mateen, the father of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen who killed 49 people at a gay Orlando nightclub in June, was clearly visible behind Clinton at an election rally in Kissimmee, which is located just half an hour from the site of the massacre.
Mateen told journalists after the rally that he was backing Clinton for president, because he agreed with her stances on important issues.
The Clinton campaign responded by saying she disagrees with Mateen's views and disavows his support. 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. This individual wasn't invited as a guest and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event."
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told ABC's "Good Morning America" that Mateen supported Clinton because of her "soft stance on Islamic terrorism."
Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Mike Pence accused the media of ignoring Mateen's appearance at the event, The New York Times reports.
Speaking at a rally in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, Pence said "It feels like every single day the national press latches onto some other issue about my running mate ... But you know what they're not talking about? Anything having to do with Hillary Clinton."
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