WASHINGTON — The Libyan militia leader accused of being part of the deadly 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, has been "compliant but not cooperative" with U.S. interrogators, Representative Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said on Sunday.
Ahmed Abu Khatallah, captured in Libya earlier this month by U.S. forces and held for nearly two weeks aboard a U.S. Navy vessel, was transferred to federal custody on Saturday. He appeared in U.S. District Court in Washington and, through a translator, pleaded not guilty to a terrorism charge in the attack that killed Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans.
Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN's "State of the Union" program that Khatallah was being held in the Washington, D.C., area after his arraignment.
"He's being held in, I would argue, an appropriately secure environment given the nature of his crimes against the United States," Rogers said. U.S. officials have not said where Khatallah is being held.
Rogers said the interrogation had not been especially fruitful. "He's been compliant but not cooperative," he said.
"You can imagine that he was not obstinate, he was not pushing back, but he was likely not providing information ... not to the point where an FBI agent would say, 'Hey, bingo, here we go. We've got something that would turn into actionable intelligence.'"