Hillary Clinton is gaining some unwanted attention after it was discovered that Seddique Mateen, the father of the man responsible for killing 49 people in the name of ISIS at The Pulse Nightclub in Orlando last June, was in a prominent spot behind Hillary at a rally last night in Kissimmee, Florida.
The Hillary campaign denied any knowledge of the elder Mateen’s presence claiming, “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.”
But as you can see from this interview conducted by Tory Dunnan of WPTV, the NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Mateen claims he was invited by the Democratic Party adding that he is a member. He didn’t specify if it was the Florida Democrats or his local Democratic organization. When asked if Hillary’s campaign knew he was going to be there, Mateen only said, “It’s the Democratic Party. Anybody can join.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0x5QVotJs8
The elder Mateen’s presence might have not been so bad if he had been contrite and had expressed horror as to what happened. Despite his flag waving last night, Mateen is an anti-American, pro-Afghan Taliban apologist with strongly anti-gay views. Given that Hillary spoke about the Orlando shootings at last night’s rally, her campaign would have been far better served if they had invited those who survived the attack to the rally rather than have the shooter’s father looking right over her shoulder.
While it’s possible that Mateen was invited by his local or state Democrat organization rather than the Hillary campaign, given her propensity for lying I am disinclined to believe her campaign when they claim they were unaware of his presence.
