The father of the man who gunned down dozens at the Pulse LGBT nightclub in June attended a rally for Hillary Clinton Monday night in Kissimmee, Florida, just south of Orlando.
Local station WPTV spotted Seddique Mateen sitting in the crowd behind Clinton, who acknowledged those still grieving for the victims of the attack at the top of her speech.
Asked how he felt about the Democratic nominee’s comments, Mateen told WPTV, “We’ve been cooperating with the federal government, and that’s about it.”
Reporters from the station said they happened to catch up with Mateen at a rest stop later that evening, where he provided more information about his support for Clinton.
“Hillary Clinton is good for United States versus Donald Trump, who has no solutions,” he told WPTV.
Mateen gave no indication of whether the Clinton campaign knew he would be in attendance, saying only “It’s a Democratic party, so everyone can join.”
The campaign told the Orlando Sentinel that the rally was open to the public.
“This individual wasn’t invited as a guest and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event,” a Clinton spokesperson said.
After the Orlando massacre, Trump blamed the United States’ flawed “immigration system” for allowing the Mateen family to come into the country. The shooter, Omar Mateen, was born in Queens, New York and his parents emigrated to the United States from Afghanistan.
“When I’m elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats,” Trump said at the time.
