In his Sunday speech addressing the most horrific mass murder in the nation’s history, Pres. Obama attributed the attack to “hatred” and “terror,” but refused to utter the word “Islamist,” despite reports that the killer was a radical Muslim.
“We've reached no definitive judgment on the precise motivations of the killer. The FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terrorism,” Obama cautioned, regarding the shooting in Orlando, Florida that left at least 50 dead and at least 50 more wounded at a nightclub reportedly frequented by the gay community.
Each time the president appeared to acknowledge the attack could be an act of terror, he went on to conflate it with “hate” – not Islam:
“We stand with the people of Orlando, who have endured a terrible attack on their city. Although it is still early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and act of hate.”
“And I have directed that we must spare no effort to determine what -- if any -- inspiration or association this killer may have had with terrorist groups. What's clear is that he was a person filled with hatred.”
“And no act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans.”
“Although it is still early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and act of hate.”
Obama also blamed the mass murder on the Second Amendment:
"This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub."
Meanwhile, the killer, Omar Mateen had “committed himself to ISIS before carrying out the bloodiest mass murder in US history at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, federal officials said,” the New York Post reports:
“Mateen ‘made a pledge of allegiance to ISIS,’ California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN.”
Mateen reportedly called 9-1-1 to make the pledge to the radical Islamist group before embarking on his killing spree.
Likewise, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said FBI officials have told him “there appears to be” a connection to “Islamic radicalism.”
The FBI had been identified Mateen as a person of interest back in 2013.
Pres. Obama has refused to say the words "radical Islam" and, earlier this year, the White House even omitted the audio of French Pres. Francois Hollande uttering the words in Obama's presence from the official White House video.