Petraeus Grilled Over Susan Rice Disgraced former CIA director Petraeus spent almost four hours in closed door hearings before the House and Senate intelligence committees this morning to testify about what he learned first-hand about the Sept. Democratic senators who emerged from the hearing said Petraeus' testimony supported U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. Click here to learn more about the timeline of the Petraeus affair. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Rice was speaking from talking points prepared by the CIA and approved by the intelligence committee. The key is that they were unclassified talking points at a very early stage. And I don't think she should be pilloried for this. She did what I would have done or anyone else would have done that was going on a weekend show," Feinstein said. To say that she is unqualified to be Secretary of State I think is a mistake. And the way it keeps going it's almost as if the intent is to assassinate her character. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said Petraeus' testimony "clarified some of the issues that were still a little cloudy" over the attacks. Chambliss said Rice "went beyond" the talking points. She even mentioned that under the leadership of Barack Obama we had decimated al Qaeda. Well, she knew at that time that al Qaeda was very likely responsible in part or in whole for the death of Ambassador Stevens," he said. Petraeus was before the House committee for about 90 minutes, and then spent more than two hours before the Senate panel, but Congressional officials made sure that no one else got speak to or even see the former four-star general. Feinstein attributed the heightened security to a concern for Petraeus' well-being. The general was both eager and willing to give us his views on this and his experience on it and that is very much appreciated particularly because of the situation. We didn't want to make it any more difficult for him. And you know, you people aren't always the easiest," Feinstein said, speaking to members of the press. He expressed regret for his affair during his opening statements before the Senate, but the committee was more interested in finding out what Petraeus learned from his trip to Libya in the days after the killings. It is real-time and does begin from when before the incident started and it goes through the incident and the exodus," Feinstein said. Sen. Chambliss, said that viewing the real-time video of the attack is very sobering.