META Meta Platforms Inc

By Devlin Barrett 

The head of a Senate committee is pressing Facebook to provide lawmakers with all of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen's activity on the social-media website, noting that the suspect apparently posted several alarming statements on the night of the attack.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said in a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, that Mr. Mateen may have used as many as five different Facebook accounts and made a number of posts on the night of the attack, including a declaration of support for the leader of the terror group Islamic State.

Mr. Mateen apparently posted, "America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic state. I pledge my alliance to abu bakr al Baghdadi...may Allah accept me," according to the letter. He later posted other angry declarations.

The letter said committee staff learned of the posts during their examination of the attack, but didn't say how.

"The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west," read one post. "You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes.. now taste the Islamic state vengeance," according to the senator's letter.

After he launched his attack at the club, he also apparently searched Facebook for any posts about what he'd done, the letter said, searching for the terms "Pulse Orlando" and "Shooting."

The letter said that the last known post by Mr. Mateen was, "In the next few days, you will see attacks from the Islamic state in the usa."

A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment on Sen. Johnson's letter. It is common practice for Facebook to work with law-enforcement officials, and it did so after the San Bernardino shootings in December.

In the month before the attack, Mr. Mateen conducted internet searches showing his growing interest in a domestic terror attack, the letter said, including a search about the December terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., and a speech by the leader of Islamic State.

In the letter, Sen. Johnson asked the company "to provide all Facebook data on Mr. Mateen's activities on his account and any affiliated Facebook accounts, including but not limited to activity logs, Facebook timeline information, Facebook messages, photos and posts."

He is also seeking a briefing from Facebook officials "on the information available to Facebook prior to and during this terrorist attack."

Mr. Johnson said he wants Facebook to produce the material by June 29.

--Deepa Seetharaman contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 16, 2016 17:41 ET (21:41 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.