House Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said he has lingering questions about the investigation that uncovered former CIA Director David Petraeus’s extramarital affair.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” King wanted to know whether the FBI informed the White House of its discovery.
“The FBI should have had an obligation to tell the president,” King said. “It just doesn’t add up.”
The FBI stumbled onto Petraeus’s affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, as the agency looked into a complaint from a woman close to Petraeus who said she was receiving harassing emails from another woman.
That other woman turned out to be Broadwell, and the email exchange between her and Petraeus revealed the affair to FBI agents. The FBI says they investigated the matter over concerns the security of Petraeus’s private email account may have been compromised.
Petraeus asked to resign because of the affair on Thursday, which became public knowledge on Friday.
King said the president should have been notified of concerns over a possible security breach of Petraeus’s private email account, which he said the president should have been informed about.
But the FBI had ruled out a security breach when they reviewed the personal nature of messages found in Broadwell’s inbox. They informed Petraeus of their probe and findings two weeks ago and told him no criminal charges would be filed.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), also appearing on CNN, said the FBI’s handling of the matter appeared proper.
“I don’t see a conspiracy behind every curtain as some of my colleagues do,” Menendez said.
King, who is holding hearings on the September attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, has also said he would expect Petraeus to still testify.
“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 on Friday, after Petraeus announced he would step down as CIA chief.
