House For. Affairs Comm. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) thinks Patraeus knew 'instantaneously' Benghazi attack was 'linked to al Qaeda'

Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus will be testifying on Capitol Hill this morning about what he knew regarding the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Bengazi. The House and Senate intelligence hearings will take place behind closed doors. This will be the first time Patraeus will speak to government officials since he resigned last week over an extra-marital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. Sources told CNN’s Barbara Starr that Petraeus wants to clear up "a lot of misrepresentations of what he told congress initially," and that he saw two streams of intelligence about the attack.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee also held a hearing on Thursday over Benghazi. California Republican Congressman Ed Royce is a ranking member of that committee and Chairman of the Terrorism Subcommittee. He joins John Berman on "Early Start" to discuss today's hearing. 

Some Republicans have questioned whether Patraeus’ resignation was linked to what he knew about the attack on the diplomatic mission in Libya that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Rep. Royce thinks his testimony today will be to clarify what he knew about it and clear the record of the CIA.

“I think the reason General Patraeus wants to testify,” Royce says, “is because he knew almost instantaneously that this was an attack linked to al Qaeda.” Royce says its important to questions why Patraeus and the White House would maintain the “line of argument” that a video was responsible for the attack in “the face of the facts.”