Lawmakers want Petraeus to testify

Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus should return to Capitol Hill to testify about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, key lawmakers say. Petraeus, who resigned his post over an extra-martial affair, was due to testify this week and would no doubt have been asked why he joined the administration in initially describing the incident as the result of a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film, The Hill reported Wednesday. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said it is important for the panel to hear from Petraeus. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida echoed her concern. "I think we need to hear from David Petraeus," Rubio told reporters. Rubio said he wanted the former director's insight into what the Obama administration knew about the attack in Libya and when they knew it. Concerning the Petraeus affair, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president didn't learn about it until after the election. The complicated web entangling the former CIA director and his biographer Paula Broadwell has been expanding at a record pace. The scandal widened to include Petraeus' successor as commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen and an unidentified FBI agent who sent shirtless photos of himself to Tampa socialite Jill Kelley. Kelley was the one who first drew attention to the Petraeus affair by complaining that Broadwell sent her threatening emails. Tens of thousands of pages of email exchanges between Gen. Allen and Kelley have been turned over to the Pentagon by the FBI. As a result, Allen's nomination to become NATO's supreme allied commander is being withheld by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, CNN reported. Panetta said the move was "a prudent measure until we can determine what the facts are and we will." A U.S. official told CNN that many of the Allen-Kelley emails may involved routine business that both were involved in at U.S. Central Command. At the same time, the FBI is making a new push to determine how Broadwell obtained classified files that were found in her possession during a late-night raid on her North Carolina home, The Washington Post reported. Both Petraeus and Broadwell have denied to investigators that Petraeus was the source of any classified information, officials said. The FBI inquiry of Broadwell and the new Pentagon probe of Allen create the potential for more evidence to surface and the scandal to expand further.