The Father of the Orlando Shooter Recently Visited Congress, State Department, Writes Open Letters To President Obama

Independent Journal – by Benny Johnson

Little is known about the personal life of Omar Mateen, the man who pledged allegiance to ISIS before butchering more than 50 people inside an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning, but his political activist father, who is running for President of Afghanistan, seems to have an odd relationship with the U.S. Government and sympathies toward the Taliban.

Here is what we know about the Orlando shooter’s father:  

His name is Seddique Mateen and he is from Afghanistan.

Mateen told NBC News early on Sunday that his son became angry while seeing two men kiss.

“We were in Downtown Miami, Bayside, people were playing music, and he saw two men kissing each other in front of his wife and kid and he got very angry. They were kissing each other and touching each other and he said, ‘Look at that. In front of my son they are doing that.’ And they we were in the men’s bathroom and men were kissing each other.’”

Mateen has his own television show, which broadcasts out of California.

It is called the “Durand Jirga Show” and features Mateen discussing Middle Eastern politics. The show is posted on YouTube.

According to the Washington post, the show demonstrates the Orlando shooters father’s sympathetic views toward the Taliban:

In one video, Mateen expresses gratitude toward the Afghan Taliban, while denouncing the Pakistani government.

“Our brothers in Waziristan, our warrior brothers in [the] Taliban movement and national Afghan Taliban are rising up,” he said. “Inshallah the Durand Line issue will be solved soon.”

This April, Mateen was in Washington DC doing advocacy work with Congress and the State Department

Seddique Mateen is an effusive poster on social media. The following posts from his Facebook describe a trip to Washington DC in April. He can be seen posing in front of State Department offices & the Democratic Foreign Services Committee offices.

The captions on the above photos roughly translate to Mateen describing how he is advocating for U.S. intervention between Pakistani and Afghan fighters on the border of both countries. One caption in English reads: “We have the duty to tell the world that Pakistan is the killer of Afghan people.”

It is not clear who he personally met with in Washington D.C.

In the above post, Mateen describes meetings with the Foreign Relations Committee and his attendance at a hearing for Afghanistan security.

He also posed for a photo in this mock Presidential Briefing Room

Mateen has met with prominent members of Congress on past trips to Washington D.C.

These posts from 2015 show Mateen with Reps Charlie Rangel, Dana Rohrabacher and Ed Royce. Royce is the Chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mateen is currently running for President of Afghanistan

Mateen regularly describes his campaign to become President of Afghanistan in posts on Facebook. According to the Washington Post, heannounced his candidacy on his YouTube show:

The most recent video on Mateen’s YouTube channel shows him declaring his candidacy for the Afghan presidency. The timing of the video is strange, as it came a year after presidential elections were held in Afghanistan.

Mateen believes people are trying to get into the U.S. to kill him

A post from the first of June says this:

Mateen regularly posts bold messages to the U.S. military and President Obama

These messages include statements about the Taliban, suicide bombers, and violence in the region.

In March, Mateen had also been granted a corporate license by the State of Florida to operate his group called The Provisional Government of Afghanistan.

Independent Journal Review has emailed and called Mateen for comment. This is a breaking story and will be updated.

Independent Journal