Rep. Peter King: Petraeus Said He Knew Terrorists Were Involved in Benghazi Attack; CIA's Talking Points Were Changed
Gen. David Petraeus, who resigned as CIA Director a week ago, is testifying before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees this morning on the Sept. 11 terror attack in Benghazi, Libya.
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) was present in the House's closed-door hearing and summed up what the general told the lawmakers.
1:30p ET UPDATE: King tells Megyn Kelly: . “If I had to presume, I’d say it was somebody in the administration had to have taken it out..." Watch the video here.
Notably, he said Petraeus recalled stating even in the days after the attack that there was a significant terrorist element to the attack. Lawmakers have said
that Petraeus cited the anti-Islam video in the days after the attack and did not call it a planned attack.
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King said he had a "very different recollection" of what Petraeus initially said, recalling that he interpreted Petraeus' early assessment as minimizing terrorists' involvement in the attack and emphasizing that it arose out of anger over the video.
"The clear impression we were given was that the overwhelming amount of evidence was that it arose out of a spontaneous demonstration and that it was not a terrorist attack," said King, describing the testimony as "cordial" and praising Petraeus as a "patriot."
King said that Petraeus testified that "the original talking points prepared by the CIA (about the attack) were different from the ones that were finally put out" by the administration.
Meanwhile, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), the committee’s ranking Democrat, also briefed reporters after Petraeus testified to the House Intelligence Committee. He gave a different impression of what Petraeus spoke about, including how the general explained the discrepancies between the administration's accounts of the attack. Watch those remarks, here.
Watch King's statements:
Part 2
