A demand that Secretary of State John Kerry testify before Congress about his department’s compliance with requests for information about the Benghazi terrorist attack angered his spokesperson, who faulted lawmakers for failing to give him the opportunity to appear voluntarily.

“[I]t’s highly unusual for a subpoena to be issued before there’s even an official invitation for testimony. I think everyone can make their own judgments about that,” State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said. “I’m not sure the secretary’s even aware of the request, again, given his travel. He’s scheduled to be in Mexico on the 21st, which is the date that [the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee] has asked him to testify, which HOGR would have known if they reached out to us instead of issuing a subpoena – I think by tweet, possibly,” she added in an apparent allusion to committee chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who tweeted throughout the day Friday the reasons for the subpoena.