White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough failed to answer repeated questions on Sunday about why the U.S. after one year has failed to arrest Ahmed Abu Khattala, who has been charged in connection with the Benghazi attacks.
“Why is it that reporters seems to be able to find this guy, who the government is charging with involvement in Benghazi, but law enforcement can’t find him?” Fox News host Chris Wallace asked, adding “it’s been a year, sir.”
“You know what the United States does?” McDonough replied. “We track every lead until we find and can accomplish what we do.”
Watch the interview, courtesy of Mediaite:
Wallace wasn’t satisfied with that answer, noting several media outlets have successfully made contact with Khattala.
“Not to belabor it,” Wallace said, “but why can AP find him, why can the New York Times find him, and not our government?”
McDonough, however, chose to evade the question again.
“The United States government does what it says, and we will do what we say in this instance, as we do in every other instance,” McDonough said.
In August, the New York Times reported that federal authorities had filed murder charges against Khattala in connection with the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.