Rep. Peter King wants to see Malaysia allow more outside help in the investigation of a missing jetliner, but admits the country doesn't seem open to the idea.
Appearing on
ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, King said he would like to see involvement from U.S. agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as Interpol, the international police investigative organization.
Malaysia Air Flight 370 disappeared on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Investigators now say the plane was deliberately taken off course and its communications shut off manually. With no evidence of hijacking, the probe is now focusing on whether one of the pilots
purposely changed the 777's course.
King, a Republican from New York serving on the House Homeland Security Committee, told ABC the pilot and co-pilot should have been the focus from the start and that the FBI and Interpol should have been called to help.
"But my understanding is that Malaysia is not really cooperating at all. They're very reluctant to say what they have out on the table," he said. "Maylasia, for whatever reason, has been resistant."
King said there is no evidence of terrorist chatter or any other reason to believe terrorism was a motive.
"That doesn't mean it's not, but so far nothing has been picked up by the intelligence community from day one," he said.
But King says he still has questions about two Iranians who were traveling with stolen passports. He says they may have been legitimate asylum seekers, but thinks they were dismissed as suspects too early.
"There's nothing showing it. I just wouldn't rule it out now," King said.