Partial Transcripts of Shooter's Calls to Police to Be Released
Lynch said she'll travel to Orlando Tuesday.
— -- A week after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said a portion of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen's calls with hostage negotiators will be released Monday.
“We’ll be releasing a partial transcript of the calls between the killer and the hostage negotiators so people can, in fact, see the type of interaction that was had there,” Lynch told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on “This Week” Sunday.
The Attorney General says she’ll travel to Orlando on Tuesday to get an on-the-ground perspective on the investigation.
“I say partial because we're not going to be, for example, broadcasting his pledges of allegiance. We are trying not to re-victimize those who went through that horror,” she added. “We're trying to get as much information about this investigation out as possible, and we want people to provide information that they have to us.”
Lynch added she will travel to Orlando on Tuesday to get an on-the-ground perspective on the investigation.
“I’ll be meeting with the victims, the first responders, talking about the ways we are going to be supporting the victims and the first responders and also operationally," she said. "We will be releasing more information about this investigation as it comes to light."
Last Monday, FBI Director James Comey defended the agency’s earlier investigation of the Orlando shooter.
“So far, the honest answer is I don't think so. I don't see anything in reviewing our work that our agents should have done differently,” he said.
Lynch did not say whether something could have been done differently, but said “we’re looking into it.”
“This is an ongoing investigation. We are going back and scrubbing every contact we had with this killer,” she said. “We’re also asking people to come forward with the contacts they have had with this killer as well.”
Lynch said it is “certainly” the Justice Department’s goal to prevent more attacks like ones in Orlando and San Bernardino.
“As you can see from this investigation, we are going back and learning everything we can about this killer, about his contacts, people who may have known him or seen him, and we’re trying to build that profile so that we can move forward,” Lynch said.
The attorney general noted it is important “to keep our focus on the victims of this tragic crime."
“One of the things I’ll be doing in Orlando on Tuesday is meeting with victims talking about the support that we’ll be providing them as well, because this is a community. The LGBT and Latino community has come under fire before, but never in as horrific a manner as this,” she said.
Mateen was fatally shot by police after he killed 49 people at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando last weekend.
