The White House initially rejected a request for National Security Adviser Susan Rice and her deputy, Ben Rhodes, to testify before the House Benghazi committee, but relented after panel Chairman Trey Gowdy and White House officials held a secret negotiations meeting.
A source familiar with the meeting told
Fox News that Gowdy, R-S.C., stepped in personally stepped in to negotiate to bring the pair before the committee, which is investigating the 2012 attacks on the Benghazi, Libya diplomatic compound.
Fox News' Catherine Herridge reports that the meeting, held with members of the White House Counsel's office, took place in late January in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the details were finalized.
Rice and Rhodes were central witnesses in the probe about their role in the administration's narrative that blamed the attacks, in which Ambassador Chris Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith, and two CIA operatives, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were killed, on protests over an anti-Islam video.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest did not respond directly to questions about the meeting, saying that the Obama administration has sought to cooperate with the committee, even though Republicans acknowledge its "pure political motivation."
Former CIA Director David
Petraeus is to return for a second testimony session Saturday, which Fox News reports he agreed to in January as an opportunity to "close the loop" after Rhodes and Rice testified. The meeting will take place in a secure area of the Capitol at 10 a.m., and will involve counsel, not the whole committee.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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