Petraeus still "essential" to Libya hearings, King says

Former CIA director David Petraeus' resignation Friday amid an extramarital affair has "nothing to do" with his plan to testify on the Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya, House Homeland Security chair Peter King, R-N.Y., said, adding that the retired general's testimony is "essential."

"David Petraeus testifying has nothing to do with whether or not he's still the CIA director, and I don't see how the CIA can say he's not going to testify," King said Friday night on CNN. The New York congressman has been dogged in his criticism of President Obama's handling of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans - including U.S. diplomat Chris Stevens - dead.

If Petraeus does not testify on Thursday, as originally scheduled, King said he hopes "it would be very soon after that."

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"He was at the center of this, and he has answers that only he has... He is an a absolutely essential witness, maybe more than anyone else," King said, adding that the final decision is in the hands of Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chair of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Meanwhile, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. - who is not on the Intelligence Committee but has been an outspoken critic of the Obama administration's initial hesitation to deem the Libya attack an act of terror - told Fox News late Friday that a subpoena may be issued for Petraeus' testimony.

"The fact that he's resigned and had an affair has nothing to do with whether he will be subpoenaed to Congress ," Gowdy said. "I hope we don't have to subpoena a four-star general and former CIA director; I would hope he would come voluntarily. But if he won't, he will be subpoenaed."

Gowdy continued: Petraeus is "either a witness in our case in chief, or he's gonna be a rebuttal witness if [U.S. ambassador to the United Nations] Susan Rice and others blame him for their failure of intelligence and failure of information. But there is no way we can get to the bottom of Benghazi without David Petraeus."

CBS News learned Friday that the FBI has been investigating Petraeus' communications for the past few months, specifically involving emails to and from a female journalist. Additional sources tell CBS News the emails involved his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

[BigMykul]

Also Hillary has refused to testify.

I know this is from Fox News, but:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has turned down an invitation to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee next Thursday on the Benghazi attack.

A committee update this evening indicated that Michael Courts, acting director of International Affairs and Trade for the Government Accountability Office, will be testifying followed by a RAND Corp. analyst.

The committee indicated further witnesses could be added, but the State Department confirmed that Clinton won't be one of them.

"She was asked to appear at House Foreign Affairs next week, and we have written back to the chairman to say that she'll be on travel next week," said department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. She did not answer a question about whether Clinton would be willing to fly back from Australia to address either the Foreign Affairs panel or the Senate and House closed-door intelligence committee hearings getting to the root of the Benghazi scandal.


Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/hillary-clinton/2012/11/10/report-hillary-turns-down-request-testify-benghazi

[wwranch65]

I totally agree. Now they are trying to tell us he died in the fire when we know that they tortured him while he was alive. Come on give us the truth!

[nearl451]

Asphyxiation.

Geta life.

[justamaz]

Everyone is still waiting for answers regarding Libya and wonder why the media isn't doing the same. Now that the election is over, Obama has the opportunity to tell the truth about Benghazi. To be qualified for President you must be honest and have the confidence of the people. I know that this is laughable when it comes to many politicians, but from the leader it should be demanded. Over two months have gone by and the hundreds of questions are met by hundreds of excuses. Now that we know that the Ambassador was asking for help many months before he was killed but also asking for help up to that deadly day. The previous bombing, a few months before, and many more questions are facing this evasive administration. There is no doubt that Obama has been evasive answering questions, but whether he is protecting Hillary or anyone else needs to be known now. Obama, if he wants to fill those shoes, needs to come forward with answers before he can even think about asking for respect from those who didn't vote for him. I would hope that there are some, who did vote for him, would also demand answers.