Fox News Analyst on Petraeus Resignation: 'These Tough Chicago Guys Knew...Held it in Their Back Pocket Until They Needed to Play the Card

Fox News analyst Ralph Peters on Friday called the timing of Gen. David Petraeus' sudden resignation as CIA director "just too perfect for the Obama administration" and speculated that "tough Chicago guys" held onto knowledge of the affair until they needed to push the spy chief out.

Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, said on Fox News that just as the administration initially called the assault on the Benghazi consulate on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks "purely coincidence," it's again "purely coincidence" for the affair to surface after the election but before Petraeus went to Capitol Hill for questioning about Benghazi. CIA Acting Director Michael Morell will now testify instead of Petraeus.

"As an old intelligence analyst, the way I read this -- and I could be totally wrong, this is my interpretation -- is that the administration was unhappy with Petraeus not playing ball 100 percent on their party line story," Peters said. "I think he was getting cold feet about testifying under oath about their party line story, and I suspect that these tough Chicago guys knew of this affair for a while, held it in their back pocket until they needed to play the card."

He added, "Right after the election and right before Petraeus is supposed to get grilled on Capitol Hill, it just really smells."

But Fox News' Bret Baier reported shortly after the news of the resignation broke that a source close to Petraeus insisted it had nothing to do with what happened in Libya.

The source said Petraeus' message was "tell the truth, it was my request, the White House did not pressure me to do this, this had nothing to do with Benghazi, nothing at all, this was my request, this had nothing to do with it. I want to testify about Benghazi, there was nothing to do with the White House pressuring to leave this job."

Glenn Beck last month speculated that Petraeus would ultimately take the fall on Benghazi.

“Who have they tried to sell down the river every step of the way? The intelligence,” Beck said. “You watch. Petraeus is going to be the fall guy. They’re going to have him step down.  They’re going to point all fingers to him.”