Seddique Mateen, the father of the Islamist terrorist responsible for the slaughter of 49 people at the Pulse gay nightclub on Sunday, made several advocacy trips to the nation’s capital, at least one this year, according to NewsMax.
Mateen took a 2015 trip to Washington D.C. in which he met multiple congressman from the House of Representatives, including Republicans Dana Rohrabacher and Ed Royce, both from California, as well as Congressman Charlie Rangel, a Democrat of New York, the outlet reports.
Mateen again was in Washington, apparently in March 2016. Mateen posted photos of these trips on his Facebook page, which as of Thursday afternoon is no longer publicly available.
During his trip from just a few months ago, Mateen visited the State Department and is photographed outside of the doorway of the offices in an image on his Facebook. On the same trip, he posed for a photograph outside of the office of the Foreign Affairs Committee. The photo shoot did not end there, as a picture was taken of Mateen where he is standing behind a podium bearing the Presidential Seal.
Seddique, who has told reporters he is saddened by what transpired Sunday, posted a Facebook video Monday morning in which he states, “God will punish those involved in homosexuality.” Mateen’s active Youtube presence features many videos in which he expresses anti-American, pro-Afghan Taliban views. It was on this Youtube channel that Mateen declared he would launch a campaign to run for president of Afghanistan.
In addition to his Youtube channel, Mateen hosts a satellite television show “Durand Jirga,” based out of California, targeting an audience of the Afghani diaspora in America. Similarly, Seddique Mateen runs a non-profit organization named “Durand Jirga Inc.” Its website and publicly available information do not make clear the function of this corporation.