WASHINGTON, Nov 14: Former CIA Director David Petraeus has agreed to testify before congressional panels investigating a terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, a senior US lawmaker said on Wednesday.
Gen Petraeus, who headed the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan before joining the CIA last year, admitted earlier this week that he was having an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell and resigned.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, told a briefing in Washington that the general would testify about the incident that caused the death of a US ambassador and three other Americans on Sept 11 this year. No questions will be asked about the extramarital affair that forced him to resign from the spy agency earlier this week.
Mr Petraeus is expected to appear before the committee on Friday.
US officials had suggested earlier that the CIA’s acting director would testify before Congress on the Benghazi attack instead of Gen Petraeus.
Meanwhile, the scandal that brought the CIA chief down continues to expand. It now involves two top US generals, a Tampa, Florida, socialite and her jealous rival, a twin sister backed by the two generals in a messy custody dispute and thousands of flirtatious emails.
The scandal also has delayed the confirmation hearing of another senior US general, John Allen, who currently heads the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan. President Obama was sending him to Europe as the next Nato supreme allied commander. But now he has to wait for a Pentagon inquiry into his alleged involvement in the sex scandal to end.
Gen Allen is believed to have exchanged more than 20,000 emails with Jill Kelley, a Florida woman who was close to both the generals.
Ms Kelley’s closeness to Gen Petraeus annoyed his mistress Paula Broadwell who started sending threatening emails to her. Ms Kelley used her relations with an FBI agent to investigate the mails, which exposed the Petraeus-Broadwell affair.
Now the FBI is also investigating Ms Kelley’s links to other top US generals and to the FBI agent who also sent his shirtless pictures to the Tampa woman.
The agent was so loyal to Ms Kelley that when his seniors asked him to back off, he forwarded his findings to a Republican congressman.
The agent allegedly was also trying to leak the scandal to the media before the election to jeopardise President Obama’s chances of re-election.
Ms Kelley, 37, has now emerged as a central figure in the still-unfolding story as media reports indicated that she even persuaded two of America’s most influential military leaders to write supporting letters for her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, in a messy custody battle.
The judge, however, rejected their request, saying that Natalie was a ‘mentally’ and ‘morally’ unstable person and could not look after her 3-year old son.
Although the two sisters live in a million-dollar home and hold lavish parties for senior military officials, they are bankrupt and owe millions of dollars to various banks.Such details forced the Pentagon to say that Gen Allen’s communication with the Tampa woman was at least inappropriate. But President Obama and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta are still backing their commander in Afghanistan.
Asked at a White House briefing if the president believed Gen Allen could continue to prosecute the war in Afghanistan while under investigation, spokesman Jay Carney said: “The president thinks very highly of Gen Allen and his service to his country as well as the job he has done in Afghanistan … He has faith in Gen Allen, believes he's doing and has done an excellent job at International Security Assistance Force.”
Defence Secretary Panetta expressed similar views at a news briefing in Perth, Australia. “No one should leap to any conclusions here. Gen Allen is doing an excellent job at ISAF in leading those forces,” he said.
The FBI also is facing heavy criticism over its handling of the investigation and for failing to inform the White House and senior members of the Senate and House intelligence committee. President Obama learned about the scandal last Wednesday.