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Video: FBI, DOJ Release New, Full Transcript of Orlando Shooter's 911 Call

Under pressure from Republican leaders, the Justice Department on Monday afternoon reversed itself and released a full, uncensored transcript of the Orlando terrorist's 911 call on the night of the massacre.

June 21, 2016
Video: FBI, DOJ Release New, Full Transcript of Orlando Shooter's 911 Call

 

1 min to read


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Under pressure from Republican leaders, the Justice Department on Monday afternoon reversed itself and released a full, uncensored transcript of the Orlando terrorist's 911 call on the night of the massacre, calling the morning's furor over omissions in the document "an unnecessary distraction."

An earlier version of the transcript had deleted the word "Islamic State" and the name of ISIS leader "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi." Omar Mateen made the 50-second 911 call in which he claimed responsibility for the terror attack and pledged allegiance to Islamic State's leader at 2:35 a.m. The call came just over a half hour into the June 12 slaughter at gay nightclub Pulse, reports Fox News.

"I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of the Islamic State," Mateen says on the new transcript.

The old version had several words scrubbed and read: "I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted]."

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called the earlier decision by DOJ and the FBI to release only a partial transcript "preposterous."

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The only complete transcript released was of the 911 calls. Several calls made later to crisis negotiators were only released in summarized form with few direct quotes provided.

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