Yes, Omar Mateen Did Pledge Allegiance to ISIS During the Pulse Attack — Here's What the Record Shows

The claim that Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to the Islamic State during the Pulse nightclub attack is true. On June 12, 2016, Mateen killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida — and during the attack itself, he called 911 and declared his loyalty to ISIS and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This is not disputed.

The FBI confirmed the 911 call in an official statement released days after the shooting. FBI Special Agent in Charge Paul Wysopal stated directly that Mateen made the pledge during the call. Attorney General Loretta Lynch also confirmed this publicly, and the Department of Justice included it in formal statements about the case.

Reporting by The New York Times added further detail: Mateen made three calls during the attack. One was to 911, where he pledged allegiance to ISIS. Two others were to a local news station, during which he also referenced the Boston Marathon bombers. All of this was captured and documented.

One important nuance: the Congressional Research Service, which reviewed the attack for Congress, found no evidence that ISIS leadership directly planned or ordered the shooting. Mateen appears to have been ISIS-inspired rather than ISIS-directed. The Islamic State claimed responsibility after the fact, but that claim of operational control does not hold up to scrutiny. His allegiance was real and self-declared; a direct chain of command was not.

This claim spread widely not because it was false, but because it was true and alarming. It tapped into genuine public fear about homegrown radicalization. Where confusion sometimes enters is in conflating 'inspired by ISIS' with 'sent by ISIS' — those are meaningfully different things, and keeping that distinction clear matters for understanding how this kind of violence actually works.