This morning the news broke that Omar Mateen’s father, Seddique Matteen, was an informant to the FBI.
Now we find out that the FBI was considering making Omar Mateen himself a confidential informant after finding no ties to terrorism, via FBI Special Agent Juvenal Martin who testified this morning in Noor Salman’s trial:
FBI Special Agent Juvenal Martin considered developing Omar Mateen into a confidential informant for the FBI after investigating him and not finding a tie to terrorism.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
Martin was directly responsible for Mateen's father, Seddique, who was a confidential informant already when Martin transferred to the Miami division in 2006.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
Some time after this, a sheriff's office contacted FBI about comments Omar Mateen was accused of making at his workplace. He was a security guard for G4S.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
Co-workers said Omar Mateen made comments about being connected to Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Muslim Brotherhood. He claimed he had familial ties to Al Qaeda.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
Martin questioned Seddique who said during the Russian Invasion, some family fought for Afghanistan.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
Seddique also told Martin there was a distant family connection on his wife’s side to the Fort Hood shooter, but Martin said he couldn’t verify.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
Martin had Omar Mateen’s supervisor wear a concealed recording device, but never captured Omar Mateen making such statements again.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
Martin, with other law enforcement, interviewed Omar Mateen at his apartment three times.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
Noor Salman was in the home all three times. The first two she went in and out of the common area where Omar Mateen was being interviewed.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
The third time, she was therethe whole time, served refreshments and a baked good, Martin thought it was a cake. “It was very good by the way,” he testified.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
During the first interview, Seddique showed up. Omar Mateen admitted making the statements, but Martin didn’t remember whether it was before or after his father arrived.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
Omar Mateen said he made the comments because he felt harassed at work. Marin said he advised Omar Mateen go to his Human Resources department.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
The father called Martin upset with his son, said something like “If he had done those things he was being stupid,” Martin testified.
— Krista M. Torralva (@KMTorralva) March 26, 2018
At that point Martin was finished giving his testimony.
It’s amazing that the FBI was this involved with Mateen and yet never realized he was a jihadist in the making. I don’t know when these interviews took place, but we’ve posed on reports where Mateen threatened to have Al Qaeda kill a sheriff deputy and his family for a statement the deputy made about the Middle East.
I guess he was just being stupid then too.