After the Benghazi attack and before the Paula Broadwell scandal exploded, David Petraeus made a trip to Libya to conduct his own investigation of the attack. Now the CIA is denying the existence of a trip report Petraeus may have written afterward, and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein is threatening a subpoena:

The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says she will seek testimony from former CIA Director David Petraeus, who resigned Friday as CIA director after acknowledging an extramarital affair, about the September attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead. …

[Feinstein] also may subpoena reports on a trip Petraeus took to Libya in the last year.

“I believe that Director Petraeus made a trip to the region shortly before this (Petraeus affair) became public,” Feinstein said on “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” “We have asked to see the trip report. One person tells me he’s read it, and then we try to get it and they tell me it hasn’t been done. That’s unacceptable.”

“It may have some very relevant information to what happened in Benghazi,” Feinstein said.

If the report does exist, the CIA’s reaction suggests there is something interesting in it. If it doesn’t exist, that’s yet another reason Petraeus should still testify and provide details about what he saw on his trip. According to ABC, Petraeus wants to avoid that:

But now Petraeus is telling friends he does not think he should testify.

Petraeus has offered two reasons for wanting to avoid testifying: Acting CIA Director Morell is in possession of all the information Petraeus gathered in conducting his review and he has more current information gathered since Petraeus’ departure; and it would be a media circus.

The first point is irrelevant. Morell is going to testify anyway, so it’s not as if Congress has to choose between Morell and Petraeus. Morell may have all the information from Petraeus’s trip to Benghazi, but he can’t give a firsthand account of it. As for the media circus, the hearing would likely be closed to the public and press anyway. The hallways would be staked out, but it’s not like Petraeus has never been at the center of a media storm before.