Paul Ryan calls on Obama to reverse decision to censor Orlando shooter's 911 calls
Speaker Paul Ryan called on President Obama Monday to reverse the administration's decision to censor the released transcripts that document the Orlando shooter's 911 calls.
The president should reverse his administration's decision to censor the #Orlando shooter's 911 transcript ⇩ pic.twitter.com/8ZTp3NHkc6
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) June 20, 2016
Initially, the FBI released partial transcripts Monday of the four calls the gunman, Omar Mateen, made to law enforcement during his rampage June 12, but the transcripts omit references to Mateen's pledges of allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The shooting left 49 people dead and 53 wounded.
Later in the day, the administration decided to release the full transcript.
"I am glad that the administration reversed its decision and has now shared the full transcript with the American people. But this should have never been an issue in the first place. The attempt to selectively edit the record reflects a broader, more serious problem: this administration's continued effort to downplay and distract from the threat of radical Islamist extremism. This is unacceptable. To defeat terrorism we have to be clear-eyed about whom we're fighting," Ryan said in a statement.
In interviews on the Sunday morning political shows, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that the FBI was editing the transcripts because officials didn't want to re-victimize people who experienced the attack.
"I say partial, because we're not going to be, for example, broadcasting his pledges of allegiance. We are trying not to re-victimize those who went through that horror," Lynch said on ABC's "This Week."
"What we're not going to do is further proclaim this man's pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups, and further his propaganda," Lynch said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We are not going to hear him make his assertions of allegiance [to ISIS]."
Lynch said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that she plans to travel to Orlando on Tuesday. CBS News has asked the Justice Department for further information about the administration's redactions.
"I will actually be traveling to Orlando on Tuesday to continue my briefings. I'll be getting briefings on the ground, meeting with the victims, the first responders and talking about the support they were offering local law enforcement and those victims," she said.