The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says she plans to ensure former CIA Director David Petraeus testifies before Congress on the September attacks at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview to air Tuesday that she is working with the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), to set up a meeting where they can speak with Petraeus in person.
"His view as someone who was actually there [in Benghazi] … I think that's important for us to hear,” said Feinstein of Petraeus in an interview for CNN’s "The Situation Room."
Feinstein and Chambliss also plan to meet with Michael Morell, the acting director of the CIA.
Petraeus visited Libya to examine first-hand the site of the deadly attack which claimed the lives of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Petraeus resigned from his position as director of the CIA on Friday after admitting to an extramarital affair. He had been slated to testify before the House Homeland Security Committee this week. Morell is expected to testify in his place at Thursday's hearing.
“I think he's a responsible person. I believe he will come,” Feinstein added, speaking of Petraeus.
Feinstein and other lawmakers have also criticized the FBI for not keeping Congress in the loop on their investigation which discovered Petraeus’s affair, saying that she only learned of the matter the day he announced his resignation.
"It's rather shocking to find out candidly that we weren't briefed and that we find out from the press in the way in which we did, with no heads up, with no opportunity to ask questions, or put together any information," Feinstein said, according to CNN. "So we have been coming from behind on this."
The FBI first learned of the affair while investigating a complaint from a woman who said she had received harassing emails. Those emails were traced to Paula Broadwell, Petraeus’s biographer and agents discovered their affair.
While no criminal charges were filed, agents notified Petraeus of their probe and he decided to step down last week.
On Tuesday, the FBI's probe was broadened after agents handed the Pentagon "potentially inappropriate" communications between the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. John Allen and Jill Kelley, a friend of Petraeus, whose complaint of threatening emails launched the probe that uncovered his affair.
