Petraeus to testify at Capitol on Benghazi

Top U.S. lawmakers snubbed calls for Watergate-type hearings on the Libya U.S. Consulate attack as ex-CIA chief David Petraeus agreed to testify on the assault.

"At this point, I think that the standing committees of the House, whether they be the Oversight Committee or the Intelligence Committee, are working diligently on these issues," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. "And at this point, I think that's appropriate."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., similarly said he opposed a resolution by three Republican senators to create a select or special Senate investigative committee to probe the Sept. 11 consulate attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, including two CIA contractors.

"No," Reid told reporters when asked if he favored the special committee proposed by Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.

The senators said the committee was needed because many senators don't trust the administration's account of the attack. Administration officials first said the attack was a result of a spontaneous protest and not a planned terrorist attack.

Some lawmakers have suggested the White House attempted to cover up the circumstances of the attack by saying it was spontaneous.

Administration officials confirmed last week the consulate was essentially a front for a much larger CIA base about a mile away. Most of the 30 Americans evacuated after the attack were CIA employees or contractors, not diplomats.

"We want to probe everybody who was involved, all the way up to and including the president of the United States," McCain said.

The Senate Watergate Committee, known officially as the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, played a pivotal role in gathering evidence in 1973-1974 that led to the indictment of 40 Richard Nixon administration officials and the conviction of several Nixon aides for obstruction of justice and other crimes.

Its revelations prompted the House to introduce articles of impeachment against Nixon. Nixon resigned Aug. 9, 1974.

Petraeus, who resigned as CIA director Friday over an extramarital affair, agreed to testify before the House and Senate intelligence committees on the Benghazi attack as early as Thursday, lawmakers said.

The former four-star general -- who ran the CIA for 14 months, including during the Benghazi attack -- was to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door session Thursday or Friday, panel Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., told several news organizations Wednesday.

The hearing would not address his affair, committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said.

Petraeus is to testify separately behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee Friday, the committee said Wednesday evening.

Petraeus successor acting CIA Director Michael Morell was to testify in private before the House and Senate intelligence committees Thursday. Other top-ranking intelligence officials scheduled to testify included National Intelligence Director James Clapper, Petraeus' boss.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee was to hold an open hearing on the Benghazi attack beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a closed briefing Tuesday.

source: upi.com

Lover's jealous emails led to CIA chief's downfall

WASHINGTON - The FBI uncovered the affair that led to the resignation of CIA chief David Petraeus while investigating threatening emails sent by his lover to a second woman, US media reported Sunday.

Petraeus, an American hero credited with turning the tide of the Iraq war, resigned on Friday after admitting an extramarital affair, sending shockwaves around Washington just three days after President Barack Obama's re-election.

It has emerged that his paramour was Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old former Army major granted unprecedented access to the general as she co-authored a best-selling biography: "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus."

Newspaper reports on Sunday revealed that the affair came to light when the FBI was called in as part of a criminal investigation launched when a second woman complained that she had received vicious emails from Broadwell.

"It didn't start with Petraeus, but in the course of the investigation they stumbled across him," an unnamed congressional official briefed on the matter told The New York Times.

The threatening and harassing emails from Broadwell, a married mother of two, indicated that she thought the other woman was a potential rival for the 60-year-old general's affections, officials told the US media.

A government official told The New York Post that the emails contained such language as: "I know what you did," "back off" and "stay away from my guy."

AP, citing a senior US military official, identified the other woman as 37-year-old Jill Kelley, a "social liaison" to a Florida air force base who apparently had a longstanding friendship with Petraeus but no official status in the military. She was earlier identified as a State Department liaison.

The recipient of the emails was so frightened, according to the Washington Post, that several months ago she went to the FBI for protection and to help track down the sender.

The FBI soon uncovered Broadwell's sexually explicit correspondence with Petraeus, leading to initial fears of a national security breach if someone had broken into the CIA chief's private Gmail account.

Investigators first interviewed Petraeus "about two weeks ago," law enforcement officials told the Post.

The FBI has concluded that there will not be criminal charges, US media reports said, citing law enforcement sources.

Republicans scent conspiracy

Obama's director of national intelligence James Clapper was only informed of the situation on Tuesday evening, providing a dramatic behind-the-scenes backdrop to the president's re-election night.

Clapper discussed things with Petraeus on Wednesday and advised him "the right thing to do would be to resign," an intelligence official told the Times. Obama was not told until Thursday morning, the White House said.

Republicans have pointed to the fact that Petraeus was days away from testifying about the September 11 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya as evidence of some kind of conspiracy.

A leading Republican questioned Sunday why, if there were serious concerns about comprised intelligence, it took several months for the FBI to finally notify the Obama administration.

"It just doesn't add up," Peter King, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, told CNN. "I have real questions about this. I think a timeline has to be looked at and analyzed to see what happened."

Petraeus had been due to testify on Thursday about the Benghazi attacks that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. CIA deputy director Michael Morell, now acting director, will testify in his place.

The chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, told "Fox News Sunday" she was angry at not being informed earlier and said Petraeus "may well" still be called at a later date.

The stunning departure of Petraeus has left Obama with an added headache as he begins his second term.

The president will likely have to replace not only departing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but also Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

One name being floated as a possible Petraeus replacement is John Brennan, the White House counter-terrorism adviser and a CIA veteran who has played an instrumental role in Obama's drone war against Al-Qaeda militants.

The most celebrated military officer of his generation, Petraeus took over at the CIA a little more than a year ago.

He explained his resignation to CIA staff in a message released to the media on Friday.

"After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair," it said. "Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours."

Broadwell lives in North Carolina with her radiologist husband Scott and their two young sons.

She planned to celebrate her 40th birthday with a big party in Washington this weekend, but her husband has now emailed guests to cancel those invitations.

source: abs-cbnnews.com