As part of their case against Salman, prosecutors allege that she texted her husband a “cover story” to tell his parents that night to conceal his plans. It was Ramadan, and the couple had been invited to a dinner at the mosque.
“If ur mom calls say nimo invited you out and noor wants to stay home,” Salman wrote at 5:55 p.m on the evening of the shooting.
Her lawyers, who have characterized this text as Salman simply asking her husband to communicate their plans with his mother, said this new disclosure raises questions about whether a cover story was even necessary.
“If the evidence shows that Seddique had some level of foreknowledge — based on his financial transaction or an affinity for ISIS — such a story would have been completely unnecessary, and Salman’s texting would indicate that she was the dupe and not the provocateur claimed by the Government,” her lawyers wrote.
The Pulse nightclub attack claimed the lives of 49 people, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history at the time. Salman is the only one charged in the crime. Her husband died in a shootout with police after pledging allegiance to ISIS.
Salman’s lawyers have said she was in the dark about his plans, and was a victim of abuse at his hands.
“She was not his partner, she was not his peer, and she certainly was not his confidant,” Salman’s attorney, Linda Moreno, said during opening statements.
This story has been updated to include courtroom testimony from FBI Special Agent Juvenal Martin.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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