FBI Denies Requests For '60 Minutes' Benghazi Source's Interview Records

NEW YORK -- The FBI has denied Freedom of Information Act requests for records related to federal officials' interviews with Dylan Davies, a security officer who claimed to have witnessed the Benghazi, Libya, attack in a now-discredited “60 Minutes” report.

On Nov. 7 last year, The Huffington Post requested copies of records tied to interviews that Davies said he gave to FBI and State Department officials in Doha, Qatar, shortly after the Sept. 11, 2012, attack and at his home in Wales on Sept. 21, 2012.

In response to two separate requests, the FBI said the material “requested is located in an investigative file which is exempt from disclosure.” Records can be exempted from FOIA if they are related to a prospective or pending investigation.

Davies’ on-air story began to unravel soon after the Oct. 27 broadcast on CBS. Four days later, The Washington Post reported that Davies had told his employer he didn’t reach the U.S. compound in Benghazi that night, an account that directly conflicted with his stories on “60 Minutes” and in a memoir published that week by a CBS subsidiary.

Davies defended himself in a Nov. 1 interview with The Daily Beast, claiming that interviews he gave to FBI and State Department officials would match the version of events he told on “60 Minutes."

HuffPost raised questions on Nov. 4 and Nov. 6 about the dueling accounts, but "60 Minutes" did not specifically address them. The FOIA requests were filed the following day.

On Nov. 8, The New York Times, citing “two senior government officials,” reported that Davies had told the FBI he did not reach the compound that night, a report that sank the "60 Minutes" story. HuffPost confirmed that detail through a U.S. official.

“60 Minutes” has since retracted the Benghazi story, and correspondent Lara Logan and her producer, Max McClellan, were asked to take a leave of absence.