Rep. Michael McCaul said Sunday there's "some disturbing flags" in the FBI's investigation of Orlando, Fla., mass shooter Omar Mateen, including that he was "on the radar several times" asserting affiliation with "terrorist organizations."
In an interview with ABC News'
"This Week," the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said the panel will be holding oversight hearings into the issue.
"We do know [Mateen] was on the radar several times saying he had affiliations with al Qaida, terrorist organizations," the Texas lawmaker said. "We know he was close or attended the same mosque with the suicide bomber in Syria out of Florida."
"There are some disturbing flags going up in this case that we're going to take a close look at," he continued. "The FBI tells me they didn't have predication to detain or arrest him at that time."
McCaul said Mateen mentioned he looked at Anwar al Awlaki videos, "which I think should have flagged to the FBI."
"He also on the day of the shooting… said that the Islamic State in the near future was going the conduct attacks in the United States. He said that on his Facebook posting the very day of the attacks."
McCaul said his committee would be looking at "what is our capability when someone posts a public social media posting that says that they're going to conduct attacks on the United States, on behalf of the Islamic State."
"Why can't we pick up that information and then stop that act of terror?" he asked.
McCaul decried the threat of terrorism that is "pervasive on the Internet," noting "200,000 ISIS tweets a day, 1,000 investigations in all 50 states. It's really hard to stop all of it. But we have to get control over this Internet propaganda that is poisoning the minds of the United States."
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