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Subscribe to RSSCongressman Peter King, who serves as Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, tells TODAY's Matt Lauer that the FBI had an "absolute obligation to tell the president" as soon as General Petraeus' name came up in the agency's investigation.
The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says she will seek testimony from former CIA Director David Petraeus, who resigned Friday as CIA director after acknowledging an extramarital affair, about the September attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead.
“I have no doubt now that we will need to talk with David Petraeus and we will likely do that in closed session. But it will be done one way or another,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell on Monday.
Feinstein also she also may subpoena reports on a trip Petraeus took to Libya in the last year.
“I believe that Director Petraeus made a trip to the region shortly before this (Petraeus affair) became public,” Feinstein said on "Andrea Mitchell Reports." “We have asked to see the trip report. One person tells me he’s read it, and then we try to get it and they tell me it hasn’t been done. That’s unacceptable.”
“It may have some very relevant information to what happened in Benghazi,” Feinstein said.
A week and a half ago, Petraeus went to Tripoli and conducted a personal inquiry into the Benghazi attack, NBC News has confirmed.
Petraeus has not commented on his trip to Benghazi last month.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., tells NBC's Andrea Mitchell that "a decision was made somewhere not to brief" the Senate Intelligence Committee about on the Petraeus affair and compares the scandal to "peeling an onion," saying "every day another peel comes off," revealing "a new dimension"
Petraeus revelation began as cyber-harassment probe
Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, information management officer Sean Smith and security personnel Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed in the Benghazi attack on Sept. 11-12.
Petraeus, a decorated four-star general who received widespread praise for the surge strategy that helped stabilize the insurgency in Iraq, resigned as CIA director on Friday, citing an extramarital affair.
Numerous federal government officials have told NBC News that the married general had a relationship with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, 40, who authored “All In,” a book about Petraeus’ education.
Feinstein said she received no advance notice of Petraeus’ resignation or the affair.
The affair came to light after an FBI investigation into harassing emails sent to a family friend of Petraeus, Jill Kelley, sources have told NBC News. The investigation traced the emails to Broadwell, who revealed the affair. Petraeus also admitted the affair.
The FBI determined that no criminal charges would be filed as a result of the investigation.
Lawmakers question timing of Petraeus resignation
But now, Feinstein has linked the Petraeus affair with another controversy within the Obama administration – the attack on the Benghazi diplomatic mission in Libya.
The Senate Intelligence committee planned to start closed-door hearings on the Benghazi attack on Thursday with further proceedings expected to follow. Petraeus had been expected to testify at the hearings before he resigned as CIA director.
Republican lawmakers and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney have criticized the administration’s evolving explanation of what triggered the Benghazi attack. Officials early on said it was a spontaneous reaction during a protest about an anti-Islamic film. Later, it was termed a planned terrorist attack.
Questions have also been raised about whether the consulate had adequate security and whether the State Department responded appropriately to requests for more protection.
Feinstein also questioned Broadwell's role as Petraeus' biographer.
“It’s a rather confused situation because at one point she was an Army reservist doing intelligence-related work, at the same time she was doing a journalist’s work, a biography on David Petraeus,” Feinstein said. “It seems to me these two things don’t go together, it seems to me someone who becomes active military should not be writing a book.”
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Leave a Comment:
The tin foil hats are out in force on this one. Did you forget -- Obama was singed by you idiots by alleging betraying Petraeus when he was a general. Only that wasn't true.
Now we have the allegation that Obama watched the ambassador and the other three killed and that wasn't true.
And now Petraeus, who a lot of youy whackadoodles wanted to run for President pulls a Clinton, but because he's a military man who screwed around with a military woman (and might have more in the background) resigns and you add 2 (petraeus resignation) and 2 (the benghazi attack) and get 5 (some deep hidden coverup)
Excuse me the 9/11/12 tragedy is far more clear than the 9/11/01 as far as what the President knew and when he knew it.
You really think Feinstein would want Petraeus to testify if she thought Obama was in the middle of this?
You really think Eric Cantor would cover up an Obama screwup?
Yeah the timing is bad. Timing is always bad when you screwup and unfortunately a great man screwed up. I think the coverup will turn out to be that Obama didn't want him to resign but an honorable man who committed a dishonorable act chose to resign. I hope with time he comes back into influence. He's too important to the country to disappear from public life.
You lost -- again!!! -- get over it!
Pablo,
Feinstein wants him to testify behind closed doors so the government can deem the testimony top secret because of national security and that would prohibit Petraeus from ever speaking of the incident. I'm just saying.
Yesterday fox news was all in a tizzy over the DOD saying they got a call at 9:42 and the CIA got a call at 9:40. 2 freakin' minutes and thousands of miles away.
I think it's pretty obvious what's up here. 2 freakin' minutes, good grief.. The republicans could give a rat's ass about who died, only that they can figure out a way to use it against obama. That's sad.
Finally something I agree with Feinstein on. His resignation is fine but that doesn't exempt him from testifying. He still has the same knowledge and information that he had before he cheated on his wife.
He we go again! another administration that lies to the people!
Seems like Hussein learned a few tricks from Bush
What is this fascination with Benghazi?? It was a tragic event, but certainly wasn't the first and won't be the last. We lost 4 americans who now are being used for political purposes - pretty disgusting. There should be hearings to bring out all the facts, but in the meantime, all of this wild speculation and baseless accusations are inappropriate.
Some of you people are starting to make Alex Jones' conspiracy theories sound mundane.
Who gives two phucks 240 Mariens were killed in Beirut under Ronnie Regan WHERE THE PHUCK WAS THE OUTRAGE THEN! YOU PEOPLE MAKE ME SICK! NO WONDER YOU LOST THE LAST 2 ELECTIONS AND WILL LOSE THE NEXT 2 ALSO! PHUCK OFF YOU LOSERS !!!!!!!
You're a moron. Obama ordered the armed drone to "not fire", therefore he ordered the death of americans. Look up the testimony of Tyrone Woods. Additionally you could be one of two other types of people, socialist or racist. Morons voted for Obama because they haven't been paying attention, Socialists voted for Obama because thet have been paying attention, Racists voted for Obama because he is black.
You wacks are the reason I voted Republican
And you LOST ha ha ha ha you sick phucks will continue to lose too. Moron? me thinks your the Morons lmao! Please keep voting RepubliCON!
dagan--jackass, you keep laughing, we will see if you are laughing in 2 years. What an idiot!!
Dagon, my man I don't know ya, frankly hopefully never will need to, but you are one old bitter douche. Someone must have relay dunked one in your retirement home mush this morning...
Dagan
How many people were killed in the Civil War under Lincoln? Did you get bent out of shape over that? Come on tell us, I know you were there.
More people died on D Day, than everyday of the Iraq & Assghanistan war COMBINED!
@Dagan
And you LOST ha ha ha ha you sick phucks will continue to lose too.
I hate to tell you this but we all lost....
At least dopey dagan can spell "loser" correctly. For that he he gets a cookie.
FAGAN..I mean DAGAN looks a bit like a beaver with that big overbite if that's his pic and he does look a bit goofy. Wonder if he sucked his thumb too much when he was younger, or something else too much as he got older.
Bonebreaker,
Dagan didn't get that round mouth from eating square meals.
Since when does an affair mandate a resignation? Bill Clinton had an affair that could have jeopardized national security yet the democrats said it was ok. Has anyone other than me noticed that the only politicians who step down due to immoral behavior are the republicans?
How come Gen. Petraeus can be pulled into a Senate hearing, run by Democrats, of course in closed session. But he resigned to avoid questions from the house, in open session? This stinks to high heaven, just like all the other closed door Democrat secrecy meetings. How dumb are we, electing the same crooks for 4 more years?
the country has been taken over by people that only care about themselves. Sad state of affairs.
Sen. Feinstein fancies herself the 'bulldog' and plans to get to the bottom this. At least she looks the part.
Some on this board are reading way too much into this. People have affairs, especially when overseas on deployment, and especially high ranking men. We have way more important issues to worry about than who the general was banging.
That's true bigdmarine...but we expect a bit more from a former four star general who became the director of the CIA, who held the highest of clearances, who had a girlfriend who allegedly had access to his email account, and who also allegedly sent threatening email to a friend of the Petraeus family.
Sounds kinda important to educated folks.
The higher the rank, the more likely the guy to have an affair. This is much ado about nothing, and I can't see wasting taxpayer dollars on hearings and the like. We need to move on quickly. We've got bigger fish to fry.
No offence to anyone, but to someone on the outside looking in, you have just re-elected someone who has plenty to answer for and appears to be involved in quite the coverup attempt. Our politicians may make mistakes, but it generally does not lead to murder and that is what I believed happened, Obama knew the whole time and didn't care.
Very true. And this is what I said to my peeps. I did not elect this cat, but most of our peeps did, and I do not know why, All he does is lie to the people that put him there. Now how do you cats feeel about that ?????
hey canadaboy, i came to the same conclusion too watching this thing unfold from canada
to Canada Boy:
What is your opinion of the Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper and what he is doing so far???? Or do you miss the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin? Or the Rt. Hon Jean Chrétien??/
Just curious....
Would you guys rather have Mitt the twit, the flip-flopper in chief, and be ruled by Wall Street and the 1%?
something is definitely going on, and it s not cool to lie to the people, especially when we put the guy in office. The Main OVAL Office. We did not put him there so they could like to us, and never tell us what in the HELL is going on. Why would we put him in office if he is going to lie to us. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
240 mariens were killed in beirut under ronnie regan where the phuck was the outrage then! you people make me sick! no wonder you lost the last 2 elections
2016 makes three in a row.
Dagan,
Did you get old with out enough money to retire and pay for medical bills and now you need Uncle Obama to deal you out some government cheese? Is that what it is? Are you one of the "Have Nots" that voted them in a right to pick the pocket of the American tax payer? The reason we lost the last two elections is because there are more "have nots" now than "haves" and the "have nots" want the "haves" to pay for their pathetic lives.
Show them the respect they deserve and spell it correctly.
Robert;
The fact that believe what you wrote, is the reason you lost the election.
Dagan: Time for your meds big boy, take it easy, lay down and wake up tomorrow.
D'man, chill a bit...go back to your room...see if the giant spiders are still crawling on the walls...borrow your roomates hand cream if need be...
Is dagen drunk?
SDC.CLARK,
The reason why conservatives lost the election is because the moochers like yourself out number us. If Puerto Rico becomes a state we will have 4 million more moochers to feed. I predict we will never win an election again because working people are a dying breed. VIVA LA MOOCHERS !!!!!!!
FAGAN, What the hell are "M A R I E N S?" Aliens from another planet or something...maybe Mars? No, that would make them Martians. Hmmm, I sure hope they aren't as stupid as you are beaver.
Spot on, Dagen. They are going to loose a lot more until they get off the social warfare and kick the extremists to the curb. Personally, I hope they keep with business as usual. I am taking great pleasure in seeing them fall apart.
And the cover-up machine is in action. If Petraeus testifies it will be behind closed doors and the information will be deemed "top secret" because of national security. Petraeus then will be under order never to speak about the incident to anyone ever again. Thats how you keep that under wraps. I hope Petraeus goes on Fox News and spills his guts before he can't talk about it. That way Feinstein can get her information from Hannity, just the way she likes it.
psshhhh...transparency schmanparency. Our leaders suck.
Tell Feinstein to just wait a couple of months and buy the book!
Fafnerdon
You might have something there. Petraeus could be in bed with Broadwell right now saying "You know what baby, I got a couple of other chapters for my book so stop the presses".
Like i said who give a sh-t who he was phucking and when you @!$%#ing republicons are perverts least he was banging a woman most republicons like little boys and house pages. Freakes!
Pathetic comment Dagan. Not even worth to respond in facts.
Dagan is just a government cheese eater. Just another demorat.
Man, Dagon..up your meds...or get another little boy to visit you at the home...or something...you're wired way too tight...you're gonna blow out an o-ring....
Dagen...take a Xanex and drink more vodka...you need to go to sleep..your check comes in the first of december
I just put him on IGNORE...works like a charm
The director of the CIA resigns because of an affair??!! If every high ranking government official was to resign because of personal indiscretions, Washington would be vacant. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm??????????
MRZ: You probably wrote the most accurate comment I have seen on this thread...
and the most scary: ... Or is it?
I feel for those who were cheated on as well.
Peace...
So true! This is why we need to move on people! For God's sake, we have way more important real issues to deal with, and we don't have time for conspiracy theories and nut cases. I don't give a damn who he was banging! It makes no damn difference! We have enough real issues to spend our time on.
NOW, AFTER the election MSN is picking up on Benghazi and that the whole thing stinks to high heaven and a huge Obama administration cover-up?
Pathetic. NOW they want to play journalists again.
Hope they don't find him hanging in his shower making it look like a suicide. It's amazing how this never came out before Obooboo got re-elected. Petraeus is going to crucify this idiot if he's not found dead.
I still ask; "so what if he had an affair?" This isn't like the 1990's anymore; we have gays in the military, and the old justification to prevent them from being there was that they "could be compromised!"
Patreaus needs to fear his wife, not the US government for this. This is a diversion!!!
There will be a massive amount of High Level people who will lie, Resign and throw themselves under the Bus to protect the failed Obama administration.
Time to clean up a corrupt administration
I'd love to; we tried - it didn't work-out! King O has his crown!
I'd love to; we tried - it didn't work-out! King O has his crown!
The election is over - can we move away from the manufactured outrage here? We lost thousands under GWB and 300 some under Reagan with the Lebanon bombing. This is four people, all of whom knew what they were getting in to. If there were mistakes, you learn from them and move forward, you don't try to make political hay out of it. Personally, I think that the video was the spark that let the local radicals get more radical than they could otherwise. To define it as hate speech, terrorism, or murder doesn't mean a rat's patoot in my opinion.
RepubliCONS will not they are like a dog with a bone they will run this for the next 4 years. Even if their God Bush/Regan killed thousands they will beat this to death. And they wonder why they lose!
Man Dagon...come up for air....or have them push you around the home for a while, relax dude....
Dagan: go eat some cotton candy.
Dagan:
Take it easy there: Not all Republicans are Dog Feces and Not all Democrats are Saints. They are people like you and me.... Or have you forgotten what the Democratic party once stood for???
Van Man,
I respectfully submit my comments. Half of the country thinks Obama let those people die and the other half think he is a hero. This goes way deeper than Libya. The hate that has been shown here and in several blogs needs to be thought about. This will get worse.
Feinstein is either an idiot or a pure scapegoat artist. Let's find a way to tie the Benghazi buffoonery to Petraeus, in order to take the heat off of Hillary and her department's incompetence. How convenient!
I think the question of "why Chris Stevens" was attacked still need to be answered, besides "terrorist attack!" (and of course th video)
The other question is; "so what if Patreaus had an affair?" Is that reason to resign?? Clinton didn't!!!
I mean, this is just all smoke & mirrors folks. Nobody in 2012 care if someone in the government had an affair if it didn't affect their jobs. His wife may cut his willie off when he's sleeping at night, but nobody cares! Why is he resigning over this??
I'm sure, in a week or so he'll disappear out of remorse. Somethings up kiddies; you know it and I know it!