Former CIA Director David Petraeus was interviewed Wednesday by the House panel probing the 2012 Benghazi attacks, the first of several high-level witnesses set to appear before the committee in the new year.
Petraeus spent four hours behind closed doors Wednesday answering questions from the GOP-led panel investigating the twin 2012 assaults in Libya that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
“What he is saying is completely consistent with what he’s said in the past and indeed with the conclusions of the bipartisan (House) Intelligence committee report,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of both committees, as he emerged from the closed-door session.
Schiff said there was no stand-down order or gun-running.
The report, issued in November 2014, debunked persistent allegations, and found there was no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, no missed opportunity for a military rescue, and no evidence the CIA was covertly shipping arms from Libya to Syria.
Schiff said he hoped “this is the last time we have to bring the director back to repeat his testimony.” But Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the panel’s chairman, said he expects to call Petraeus to testify again because several committee members did not question the retired Army general.
“We’re actually not through with him,” Gowdy said.
Some members of Congress have accused Petraeus of providing inconsistent stories on who and what was to blame, originally pointing to a demonstration over an anti-Islam film — but later saying he knew the attack was terrorism from the start.
Fox News also has learned that the CIA is withholding certain Benghazi documents from the committee.
The committee’s search for answers surrounding the attack has gone on for 19 months. The panel is scheduled to question former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Friday.
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SOURCE: Fox News
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