The emails suggest the CIA initially thought the attack spun from a protest.

The House foreign affairs panel on human rights cleared three bills Wednesday in its first mark-up of the year.

The panel approved by voice vote legislation from chairman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) that would create new sanctions for the president to use against countries that refuse to return children abducted from the United States by one of their parents. The legislation is named after a New Jersey boy, Sean Goldman, who was abducted to Brazil for five years by his mother before being returned last year.

Smith's panel held a hearing last week on the legislation with Sean's father, David. The State Department's special adviser for children's issues warned at the hearing against sanctions and said the department's preferred approach was to get countries to comply with the United Nations treaty on parental child abductions.

Republican senators briefly hijacked a hearing on Iran Wednesday to lambaste the Obama administration on the largely unrelated issue of CIA cash payments to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The angry lawmakers took advantage of a rare appearance by the State Department's third-ranking diplomat to demand answers on the decade of cash payments that The New York Times brought to light last month. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman refused to answer in public.

“Delivering cash to an elected leader – does that help us root out corruption in that country?” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) rhetorically asked Sherman. 

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) followed-up by questioning the example that the United States is setting. 

“Would we object if other nations delivered bundles of cash to President Karzai?” he asked.

A Senate panel is expected to vote next week on arming vetted Syrian rebel groups. 

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) on Wednesday condemned comments from Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto that the use of "comfort women" in Japan during World War II was "necessary."

Royce described "comfort women" as a "state-sponsored program of sexual brutality" against thousands of women during the war. But this week, Hashimoto was reported as saying that these women were "necessary."

The Oversight Committee chairman wants the authors of the report to commit to a transcribed interview before testifying in the House.

Michael McFaul visited the Russian foreign ministry for 30 minutes and then left without commenting to the press.

“He didn’t say why. He just turned it down,” a Defense official told McClatchy.

Kerry's last-ditch attempt to strike a peace deal for Syria has failed to convince key players on Capitol Hill.