REPORT: FBI Had Undercover Informant on Islamic Orlando Shooter Years Before Attack

A local Florida law enforcement official reportedly spoke to media about the recent Islamic Orlando shooter and mentioned that the FBI had inserted a confidential human source (informant) into the life of the terrorist years before the recent Orlando attack occurred. Someone had reported that the shooter made Al Qaeda threats and the FBI allegedly inserted the informant to try and see if the man was seriously considering terror attacks against Americans. The report states that the man showed no interest in terrorism so the FBI removed the informant.

The shooter, Omar Mateen, left many in a community where he provided security upset and wanting answers from the firm that hired him, according to local TCPalm.com. They wrote:

Mateen’s background, however, was checked again by G4S in 2013 after the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office requested he be removed from the St. Lucie County Courthouse patrol after he allegedly made derogatory comments to a deputy.

A deputy at the courthouse mentioned the Middle East to Mateen, who reacted by threatening the deputy, said Sheriff Ken Mascara, who attended the Wednesday night meeting at the community’s Island Club.

“Omar became very agitated and made a comment that he could have al-Qaida kill my employee and his family,” Mascara said Wednesday. “If that wasn’t bad enough, he followed it up with very disturbing comments about women and followed it up with very disturbing comments about Jews and then went on to say that the Fort Hood shooter was justified in his actions.”

The FBI launched an investigation into Mateen after Sheriff’s Office officials reported the incident to the agency. As part of its investigation, the FBI examined Mateen’s travel history, phone records, acquaintances and even planted a confidential informant in the courthouse to “lure Omar into some kind of act and Omar did not bite,” Mascara said. The FBI concluded Mateen was not a threat after that, Mascara said.

Left-of-center news outlets seized upon the possibly accurate revelations with far-stretched conspiracy theories. One of the outlets, Alternet, went as far as declaring that the shooter was driven to terrorism by the alleged encounter with the FBI informant many years before.

Sputnik News, an outlet funded by the Russian government, also covered the issue with a shocking headline that read, “Radicalized at Home: FBI Tried to Lure Orlando Shooter into Terror Plot.” Though the headline suggests Sputnik editors have low evidentiary standards, the article did not justify the editors’ choice of headlines. The writer quoted this reporter on the matter and wrote:

Sputnik News spoke to former FBI informant and current Editor-In-Chief of Breitbart Texas, Brandon Darby, who explained that the role of an informant is to be no more and no less radical than the subject that they are investigating. He explained that they must maintain the same level as the person of interest as to not tip them off and blow the entire thing — a fact which makes it unlikely that the agency shaped his radicalization.

“No thinking person would jump to such a conclusion based upon the one comment allegedly made by a local law enforcement official. The only way such a conclusion could be reached is if the person asserting the absurd claim wanted something like that to be true. In my experiences, the FBI enters the scene when a radical extremist is wanting to hurt others. The FBI interferes with and stops such plans, they do not encourage radicalism,” Darby explained.

Darby also noted the fact that the article questioning FBI involvement was written by Max Blumenthal, whose family has a long history with the Clintons.

“The claim you asked me about was asserted by Max Blumenthal–the son of Clinton’s long-time spin doctor, Sidney Blumenthal. The Blumenthals are clearly trying to divert attention from the failures of Clinton, just as the elder Blumenthal did through Bill Clinton’s repeated sexual predator accusations,” he continued.

Follow @brandondarby on Twitter.

DISCLOSURE: The author of this article previously worked undercover with the FBI in their human source program. His work with the FBI included participation in efforts with the Joint Terrorism Task Force and international terrorism–including Islamic terrorism. Darby continues to work with a variety of law enforcement agencies on matters involving Breitbart’s Cartel Chronicles.