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Holder Knew: Petraeus & Broadwell Interviewed by FBI | ||||||||||
2012-11-12 | ||||||||||
Lots more details coming out -- A social planner's complaints about email stalking launched the months long criminal inquiry that led to a woman romantically linked to former Gen. David Petraeus and to his abrupt resignation Friday as Central Intelligence Agency chief. The emails began arriving in Jill Kelley's inbox in May, U.S. officials familiar with the probe said. Ms. Kelley, who helped organize social events at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., told the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the emails, which she viewed as harassing, the U.S. officials said. That FBI investigation into who sent the emails led over a period of months to Paula Broadwell, Mr. Petraeus's biographer, with whom he was having an extramarital affair, according to the U.S. officials. FBI agents were pursuing what they thought was a potential cybercrime, or a breach of classified information. Instead, the trail led to what officials said were sexually explicit emails between two lovers, from an account Mr. Petraeus used a pseudonym to establish, and to the destruction of Mr. Petraeus's painstakingly crafted image as a storied Army general. Mr. Petraeus admitted to an affair in a letter to CIA employees announcing his resignation. In the aftermath of the investigation, some lawmakers are aiming criticism at the FBI and the Obama administration, including Attorney General Eric Holder, who knew about the email link to Mr. Petraeus as far back as late summer. A House Republican leader also learned of the matter in October. Some argue that Mr. Petraeus shouldn't have resigned; others said that the FBI should have formally notified Congress earlier.
That Mr. Petraeus was having an affair wasn't the point of the FBI probe, according to the U.S. officials briefed on the matter. The FBI investigation began with five to 10 emails beginning around May and received by Ms. Kelley, according to U.S. officials. Ms. Kelley didn't know who sent the emails. Some appeared to be accusing her of an inappropriate relationship but didn't name Mr. Petraeus. Agents determined the emails were sent from an account shared by Ms. Broadwell and her husband, who live in North Carolina, the officials said. But the agents spent weeks piecing together who may have sent them. They used metadata footprints left by the emails to determine what locations they were sent from. They matched the places, including hotels, where Ms. Broadwell was during the times the emails were sent. FBI agents and federal prosecutors used the information as probable cause to seek a warrant to monitor Ms. Broadwell's email accounts. They learned that Ms. Broadwell and Mr. Petraeus had set up private Gmail accounts to use for their communications, which included explicit details of a sexual nature, according to U.S. officials. But because Mr. Petraeus used a pseudonym,
By late summer, after the monitoring of Ms. Broadwell's emails uncovered the link to Mr. Petraeus, prosecutors and agents alerted senior officials at FBI and the Justice Department, including Mr. Holder, U.S. officials say. The investigators never monitored Mr. Petraeus's email accounts, the officials say.
Top officials signed off on the interviews, which occurred in late September and October, just before the U.S. presidential election. During Ms. Broadwell's first interview in September, she admitted to the affair and turned over her computer, the officials said. On her computer, investigators found classified documents, the U.S. officials said, a discovery that raised new concerns.
Despite efforts at FBI and the Justice Department to keep the investigation closely held, word of it leaked to a small number of lawmakers. Rep. David Reichert (R., Wash.) received a tip from an FBI employee that there was a national-security issue related to Mr. Petraeus, according to an aide. He forwarded the information to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.), who alerted the FBI in October. "I was contacted by an FBI employee [who was] concerned that sensitive, classified information may have been compromised and made certain Director [Robert] Mueller was aware of these serious allegations and the potential risk to our national security," Mr. Cantor said in a statement, which was reported by the New York Times on Sunday FBI and Justice Department officials reassessed their investigation over the next several days and determined there wasn't sufficient cause to bring charges. They advised the Director of National Intelligence of their findings at about 5 p.m. Tuesday, Election Day.
"Speaking as a friend, colleague and fellow general officer, Gen. Clapper urged Gen. Petraeus to step down," Mr. Turner said. Mr. Clapper is a retired Air Force lieutenant general, and Mr. Petraeus retired from the Army as a four-star general before assuming the helm at CIA. Mr. Clapper informed the White House on Wednesday that Mr. Petraeus was considering resigning, Mr. Turner said. Mr. Obama learned of the affair Thursday morning
An extramarital affair doesn't necessarily disqualify an official from serving as director of the CIA, and there are employees at the agency who have engaged in extramarital affairs without being forced to leave the agency. Mr. Petraeus believed he should resign because the CIA would have viewed a lower-level employee engaged in an affair to be improper and that the director should set an example by publicly accepting responsibility, according to a person familiar with the events. The affair ended more than four months ago, though Mr. Petraeus continued to advise Ms. Broadwell on her research into innovation in the 101st Airborne Division in Northern Iraq in 2003, which then- Maj. Gen. Petraeus commanded. On Friday afternoon, as word began to leak out that Mr. Petraeus might be leaving his post, a shocked Ms. Feinstein, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, called Mr. Petraeus to ask what was going on, and questioned whether it was necessary to step down.
U.S. spy agencies are required to inform leaders of the intelligence committees of "significant intelligence activities," and the affair represented the potential for a security compromise, a congressional aide said. However, U.S. officials briefed on the matter said the probe was closely held among officials at the FBI and Justice under a long-standing policy not to divulge information on continuing criminal investigations. The disclosure policy was reinforced in a 2007 memorandum by Michael Mukasey, who was then attorney general under President George W. Bush. The memorandum, issued in the wake of the scandal over the firings of U.S. attorneys, sought to remind department employees that contacts with the White House and Congress about pending criminal matters were off limits.
"The FBI has a lot of explaining to do, and so does the White House," said Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. "I have a hard time accepting most of the story we've heard so far. It doesn't add up." | ||||||||||
Posted by:Sherry |
#16 Will tune it out, Broadhead6? The ones I know already have. La la la la ..... I can't HEAR you ..... |
Posted by: lotp 2012-11-12 20:49 |
#15 I think one of two things. This affair situation will either pull Benghazi back into spotlight and the WH admin will get very uncomfortable (& hopefully enough congresscritters get pissed as being in the dark to go for the throat) or, this thing will get so convoluted that the avg moron Obama voter won't be able to follow it and will tune it out and tune back in to Dancing w/the stars. I think the latter is the more probably outcome. |
Posted by: Broadhead6 2012-11-12 20:22 |
#14 The fact that so little is being said by this administration about Benghazi and there is so much disinformation and cover-up leads one to believe that there is much, much,much, more. I think Petraeus was used by this administration (it's not clear in what way yet) and tossed. There is too much going on to go away. The less the information and truth that is forthcoming, the greater the interest. |
Posted by: JohnQC 2012-11-12 20:12 |
#13 Another issue: If Petraeus lied during the FBI's background check would that not be a criminal offence per se? This issue not being raised strengthens the hypothesis that the General's affair(s) has been known to all parties. The scandal is about something else. |
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 2012-11-12 19:08 |
#12 According to Michael Yon there were rumours about an affair when Petraeus was still in Afghanistan. Is it really plausible that the FBI didn't find out about the affair during Petraeus' pre CIA background check? My theory: The administration knew about this before the appointment and Mr & Mrs Petraeus knew that they knew. Mrs Petraeus silence was bought with a cozy government The firing/resignation is about Benghazi where something big went very wrong. Who knows, maybe one of the secret prisoners held by the CIA was Bin Laden himself... |
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 2012-11-12 19:01 |
#11 The coverup would be more believable if these people had their stories straight. |
Posted by: Lonzo Trotsky7304 2012-11-12 19:00 |
#10 I wonder how we will get good men and women to serve in our military or Ambassadorships when calls go out for help and no one responds. When Seals are threatened with prosecution over consulting for some video game, it is likely they are going to think this is very chicken shit. Obama misspoke the other day in one of his speeches while campaigning. He said to the audience: "You've got my back." What he meant to say was I got your backs or I'm backing you. Somehow I think the actual quote (misspeak) said is the truth--I'm turning my backs on you. I heard a Marine speak on some talk radio show a day or so ago about Obama's trip to Afghanistan. He said it was really strange. O did not eat with the troops, he was aloof and stand-offish, didn't mingle with the troops. I remember seeing that on TV thinking at the time it seemed strange. He stood in front of a military vehicle in a hangar and no one was around him; he appeared to be all by himself--probably just another staged photo op, one of the many for political purposes. |
Posted by: JohnQC 2012-11-12 18:52 |
#9 this thing does SMELL. and the odor is foul. I wonder how we will attract a new generation of fine young people to serve in the CIA and FBI with all this cr** going on??? |
Posted by: Raider 2012-11-12 18:24 |
#8 There is always a worry that the CIA might be susceptible to blackmail and so the FBI vets him thoroughly before he is confirmed to Director of the CIA? He is given a poly by the CIA and none of this affair comes up at that time? I'm thinking the only blackmailing going on with Petraeus is by this administration--threats of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, busting him down in rank, messing with his pension, messing with his family, possible prosecution as a civilian--a general screwing over--no pun intended. He was most likely told to STFU before the election or else. Call me conspiratorial but this whole thing smells. |
Posted by: JohnQC 2012-11-12 18:09 |
#7 So "keep off my man" is harassing enough to have your email snooped by the FBI? Wow. I think we're fed loads of crap here. |
Posted by: European Conservative 2012-11-12 17:51 |
#6 That's just one of many, many things about this that don't add up. |
Posted by: Steve White 2012-11-12 17:42 |
#5 So this curvaceous 37 year old surgeon's wife and MacDill socialite complains about harassing e-mails and the FBI jumps into action? Hmmm. Yeah. Harassing emails from someone she didn't know which didn't name anyone she knew or threaten any violence. So she called the FBI's spam hotline, activating the Spam Rapid-Reaction Force, which took 3-4 months to make the connection to Petraeus? Doesn't add up. |
Posted by: RandomJD 2012-11-12 17:33 |
#4 I imagine having to drive home to brief Mrs. Petraeus to what what the "Little General" had been up to with a buff 40yo was no fun ride the General. Early, in our relatively long marriage, Mrs Capsu78 told me that if I ever felt the need to cheat on her, don't feel the need to "confess the deed" to her... She would already know it and I would feel the Lodge # 10 cast iron frying pan before I ever saw it... |
Posted by: Capsu78 2012-11-12 15:59 |
#3 But he only got 15 minutes. |
Posted by: Creresing Barnsmell5798 2012-11-12 15:48 |
#2 Shawn Turner, a spokesman for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, said Mr. Clapper spoke with Mr. Petraeus that evening and the following day after the election was over and urged him to step down. Rommel was offered poison... |
Posted by: Pappy 2012-11-12 15:36 |
#1 So this curvaceous 37 year old surgeon's wife and MacDill socialite complains about harassing e-mails and the FBI jumps into action? Hmmm. |
Posted by: Creresing Barnsmell5798 2012-11-12 14:32 |