Rex Tillerson is the latest in a long list of senior officials who have either resigned or been fired since Donald Trump took office.
The Department of State said Rex Tillerson had not spoken to the president and was “unaware of the reason” for his firing.
Rex Tillerson was on an official tour of Africa last week when he was apparently caught unawares by President Trump’s announcement that he would hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
His team said he was feeling unwell on March 10 and later in the weekend the state department said he would cut short his tour by a day.
Rex Tillerson, 65, arrived back in Washington before dawn on March 13 to learn he was out of a job a few hours later.
According to a senior White House official, President Trump asked for Rex Tillerson’s resignation on March 9, but wanted to wait until he came home to make it public.
Mike Pompeo is a former hard-line conservative Republican lawmaker from Kansas and a Trump loyalist.
In 2014, he defended the CIA officers who waterboarded detainees as “patriots”.
Both the new secretary of state and CIA director will have to be confirmed by the Senate.
CIA Director John Brennan has warned President-elect Donald Trump to avoid off-the-cuff remarks once he takes office.
The outgoing CIA chief said spontaneity was not in the interests of national security.
Donald Trump is known for regularly making broad pronouncements on issues of national importance on his Twitter feed.
John Brennan also said that Donald Trump did not fully appreciate Russia’s capabilities or intentions.
He said: “I think Mr. Trump has to understand that absolving Russia of various actions that it’s taken in the past number of years is a road that he, I think, needs to be very, very careful about moving down.”
Image source Wikimedia
John Brennan’s remarks, in an interview for Fox News Sunday, come a week after the release of a US intelligence report which said Russian President Vladimir Putin had likely attempted to influence the election.
Donald Trump is considered to have underplayed for months the conclusions of the intelligence community that Moscow hacked Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The president-elect only accepted them at a news conference on January 11.
Meanwhile both the Kremlin and Donald Trump’s team have denied reports in the Sunday Times that the two sides were planning a summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.
Reykjavik was the venue for a summit in 1986 – near the end of the Cold War – between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, the then US and Soviet leaders.
John Brennan said “talking and tweeting” was not an option for Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20.
“Spontaneity is not something that protects national security interests and so therefore when he speaks or when he reacts, just make sure he understands that the implications and impact on the United States could be profound,” he said.
“It’s more than just about Mr. Trump. It’s about the United States of America.”
John Brennan also took Donald Trump to task for accusing the intelligence services of leaking an unverified dossier which suggests Russian security officials have compromising material on him, which could make him vulnerable to blackmail.
“What I do find outrageous is equating the intelligence community with Nazi Germany,” the CIA chief said, referring to a tweet by Donald Trump on January 11.
“There is no basis for Mr. Trump to point fingers at the intelligence community for leaking information that was already available publicly.”
However, Donald Trump responded with tweets quoting veteran Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, who told Fox News Sunday that the dossier should never have been presented at an intelligence briefing and that the intelligence services should apologize for their mistake.
The media should also apologize, Donald Trump added.
Donald Trump has described the claims as “fake news” and “phoney stuff”.
Russia also denies the existence of the dossier and says allegations that it ran a hacking campaign to influence the elections are “reminiscent of a witch-hunt”.
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
Jeff Sessions, a former prosecutor, was turned down for a federal judgeship in 1986 because of alleged racist remarks.
Donald Trump has also nominated Mike Pompeo as CIA director and retired Lt-Gen Michael Flynn has been appointed national security adviser.
His latest picks were praised on Twitter by David Duke, former leader of the white supremacist KKK group.
In a statement, Donald Trump called Jeff Sessions a “world class legal mind”.
Image source Flickr
“Jeff is greatly admired by legal scholars and virtually everyone who knows him,” he added.
Jeff Sessions, 69, said in a statement that he “enthusiastically” embraced Donald Trump’s vision for “one America and his commitment to equal justice under law”.
“I look forward to fulfilling my duties with an unwavering dedication to fairness and impartiality,” he said.
Jeff Sessions and Gen. Michael Flynn, 57, have been close allies of Donald Trump since the early days of his campaign and share many of his views.
Jeff Sessions opposes any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and was an enthusiastic backer of Donald Trump’s pledge to build a wall on the border with Mexico.
In 1986, Jeff Sessions was nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan for a federal judgeship, but was rejected because of allegations that he had made racist remarks. He strongly denied the claims.
Gen. Michael Flynn, a vocal critic of the Obama administration since he was ousted as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, agrees with Donald Trump on renegotiating the Iran nuclear deal, strengthening ties with Russia and intensifying the fight against Islamic extremists.
He once tweeted that fear of Muslims was “rational”.
Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo, 52, is a supporter of the conservative Tea Party movement. He originally backed Marco Rubio as the Republican candidate but supported Donald Trump after he won the nomination.
Mike Pompeo has also been a fierce critic of Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, tweeting on November 17: “I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
WikiLeaks has published six documents taken from an old account belonging to CIA Director John Brennan.
The CIA has condemned the hacking of its director’s personal email account, describing it as a “crime” carried out with “malicious intent”.
The agency said there was “no indication” that anything classified was released.
However, the documents do include a draft security clearance application containing personal information.
They appear to all date to 2009, when John Brennan was seeking security clearance while applying for a job as a White House counterterrorism adviser.
John Brennan was working in the private sector at the time, having already spent 25 years working for the CIA between 1980 and 2005.
Photo AP
A high-school student claimed he was responsible for hacking the AOL account, telling the New York Post he was protesting against US foreign policy.
The boy’s Twitter account, which says he is 13, has published redacted images of what appears to be government information.
The documents published by WikiLeaks include a draft on national security challenges said to have been created in 2007.
The final, unfinished paragraph is headed “Damaging Leaks of Classified Information”.
A 2008 letter about interrogation methods is also included, appearing to be from the vice-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to his fellow board members.
WikiLeaks said it would release more documents “over the coming days”.
The FBI and the Secret Service are investigating the hacking. The CIA stressed that none of the documents released so far were classified.
“In fact, they appear to be documents that a private citizen with national security interests and expertise would be expected to possess,” a statement said.
High-profile leaks including a wealth of diplomatic cables from Wikileaks have dogged the US government in recent years.
The use of private email has become a major issue in recent months for White House hopeful Hillary Clinton, since it emerged that she had operated a private account while secretary of state.
John Brennan became director of the CIA in 2013, having spent four years as assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism.
Former CIA director David Petraeus has reached a plea deal with the US Department of Justice in which he will admit to mishandling classified materials.
It ends a long investigation into whether he provided secret information to his mistress Paula Broadwell.
David Petraeus resigned from his post at the CIA in 2012, after it emerged he was having an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell.
A DoJ statement said a plea agreement had been filed.
The deal means that David Petraeus will plead guilty to one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material, but could avoid an embarrassing trial.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison, the New York Times reported.
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The retired four-star general was in charge of America’s recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was once considered a contender for the Republican presidential ticket.
David Petraeus had an affair with Paula Broadwell in 2011 during which time she was interviewing him for a biography she was writing.
Three days after the 2012 general election, David Petraeus resigned as the director of the CIA and admitted to the affair but at the time he denied any criminal wrongdoing.
The FBI discovered the affair during a cyberstalking investigation following allegations made by one of the former general’s friends, Jill Kelley.
They determined that Paula Broadwell had been sending threatening emails to Jill Kelley, and during the investigation they discovered evidence that suggested David Petraeus had shared the classified information.
Former CIA Director David Petraeus has apologized to those he “hurt and let down”, in his first public speech since resigning over his extramarital affair with biographer Paula Broadwell.
David Petraeus said at the University of Southern California military event his actions had caused “pain for family and friends”.
But the retired general said he hoped his fall would teach others that “life doesn’t stop with such a mistake and must go on”.
David Petraeus quit after his affair with biographer Paula Broadwell was discovered during an FBI investigation.
He was speaking to about 600 guests at the University of Southern California’s annual Reserve Officers’ Training Corps dinner.
David Petraeus has apologized to those he “hurt and let down”, in his first public speech since resigning over his extramarital affair with biographer Paula Broadwell
David Petraeus received a standing ovation, then began his speech by saying: “Needless to say, I join you keenly aware that I am regarded in a different light now than I was a year ago.”
The former CIA chief said he was also “keenly aware that the reason for my recent journey was my own doing”.
David Petraeus added: “So please allow me to begin my remarks this evening by reiterating how deeply I regret – and apologize for – the circumstances that led me to resign from the CIA and caused such pain for my family, friends and supporters.”
David Petraeus has kept a low profile since resigning on November 9, 2012.
His lawyer said David Petraeus had spent much of the time with his family.
A harassment complaint by Florida socialite Jill Kelley over emails she had received had led the FBI to unmask the affair.
Jill Kelley knew David Petraeus through social contacts on the Florida military base where US Central Command is headquartered.
When the FBI investigated, it traced the emails to an apparently jealous Paula Broadwell.
Jill Kelley also knew the top US general in Afghanistan, General John Allen. John Allen also sent emails to Jill Kelley but has been cleared of any misconduct.
Towards the end of his speech, David Petraeus said he hoped his experience “can be instructive to others who stumble or indeed fall as far as I did. One learns, after all, that life doesn’t stop with such a mistake. It can and must go on”.
David Petraeus added: “I know that I can never fully assuage the pain that I inflicted on those closest to me and on a number of others.
“I can, however, try to move forward in a manner that is consistent to the values to which I subscribed before slipping my moorings and, as best as possible, to make amends to those I have hurt and let down.”
Former CIA director David Petraeus is making his first public speech since resigning in November over his extramarital affair with biographer Paula Broadwell.
David Petraeus is scheduled to speak on Tuesday night at a University of Southern California event honoring the military as he carves out a role for himself as a voice on energy, economic and veterans issues.
A prepared text of his speech, obtained by The New York Times, indicates David Petraeus will apologize for the affair with Paula Broadwell.
David Petraeus is expected to acknowledge that he’s “regarded in a different light now” than he was a year ago and that he’ll try to make amends and move forward as best he can.
“I am also keenly aware that the reason for my recent journey was my own doing,” David Petraeus will say, according to The New York Times.
“So please allow me to begin my remarks this evening by reiterating how deeply I regret – and apologize for – the circumstances that led me to resign from the C.I.A. and caused such pain for my family, friends and supporters.”
David Petraeus will apologize for the affair with Paula Broadwell in his first public speech since resignation at a University of Southern California event
David Petraeus, 60, a famed Iraq and Afghan war, is a general retired from the military in 2011 who went on to lead the CIA.
President Barack Obama accepted his resignation from the CIA on November 9, saying David Petraeus had “made our country safer and stronger”, after he admitted having an affair with Paula Broadwell, the author of All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.
David Petraeus will talk about the importance of supporting the families of military personnel and will close his speech by once again referring to his mistakes.
“I know that I can never fully assuage the pain that I inflicted on those closest to me and on a number of others,” the decorated general will say.
“I can, however, try to move forward in a manner that is consistent with the values to which I subscribed before slipping my moorings and, as best as possible, to make amends to those I have hurt and let down.”
David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell affair was discovered during an FBI investigation into emails Broadwell sent to another woman she saw as a rival for Petraeus’ attention – emails the other woman viewed as threatening.
He told his staffers at the time that he was guilty of “extremely poor judgment” in the affair.
“Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours,” David Petraeus told CIA employees in a statement.
After the affair, David Petraeus testified behind closed doors about the Benghazi attack but kept out of the public eye after the very powerful media storm which blew up in the wake of the scandal.
In recent months, however, David Petraeus has increasingly appeared in public for lunches and dinners with former colleagues, foreign officials, members of Congress and policy experts.
Former CIA Director David Petraeus was betrayed by his own bodyguards and vengeful high-ranking enemies in the CIA, who made sure his affair with Paula Broadwell was exposed to the public, a new book claims.
It comes from two retired special operations commandos – a Navy SEAL and a Green Beret – who say they discovered a plot against David Petraeus while doing research about the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Senior CIA officers targeted David Petraeus because they didn’t like the way he was running the agency – focusing more on paramilitary operations than intelligence analysis. They used their political clout and their connections to force an FBI investigation of his affair with Paula Broadwell and make it public, according to Benghazi: The Definitive Report.
Jack Murphy and co-author Brandon Webb also revealed that the September 11 Benghazi terrorist attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, was retaliation by Islamist militants who had been targeted by covert U.S. military operations.
The book claims that neither Chris Stevens nor even David Petraeus knew about the raids by American special operations troops, which had “kicked a hornet’s nest” among the heavily-armed fighters after the overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s Deputy National Security Adviser, had been authorizing “unilateral operations in North Africa outside of the traditional command structure”, according to the e-book.
John Brennan is Barack Obama’s pick to replace David Petraeus as head of the CIA.
Benghazi: The Definitive Report, published by William Morrow and Company, is due out in e-book on Tuesday. The authors, Brandon Webb and Jack Murphy, are editors of SOFREP.com, a site devoted to news and stories written by current and former special operations commandos.
Perhaps the most startling accusation in the book is that David Petraeus’ affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell was leaked by the
members of his personal protection detail.
The authors say that senior intelligence officers working on the 7th floor of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, used their political clout to ensure that the FBI investigated the former Army general’s personal life.
They then told David Petraeus that they would publicly humiliate him if he didn’t admit the affair and resign.
“It was well known to Petraeus’s Personal Security Detachment [bodyguards] that he and Broadwell were having an affair. He wasn’t the only high-ranking Agency head or general engaged in extramarital relations, but when the 7th floor wanted Petraeus out, they cashed in their chips,” Brandon Webb and Jack Murphy write.
The book continues: “The reality of the situation is that high-ranking CIA officers had already discovered the affair by consulting with Petraeus’s PSD and then found a way to initiate an FBI investigation in order to create a string of evidence and an investigative trail that led to the information they already had – in other words, an official investigation that could be used to force Petraeus to resign.”
Brandon Webb and Jack Murphy said the CIA bureaucracy wanted David Petraeus out of the CIA. Senior officials were furious over the way he had been running the agency since he was appointed in September 2011.
David Petraeus was betrayed by his own bodyguards, who made sure his affair with Paula Broadwell was exposed to the public, claims the book
David Petraeus was turning the agency’s focus from intelligence gathering and analysis to paramilitary operations, including drone strikes.
Additionally, he ran the CIA like a four-star general, instead of treating it like a political institution, the authors say. His management style made countless powerful enemies within the CIA.
On November 9, three days after Barack Obama’s reelection, David Petraeus shocked the USA by resigning as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and admitting that he had been sleeping with Paula Broadwell – whom he had met while she was researching her biography of him, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.
Before he was publicly castigated, David Petraeus was the most high-profile and highly-respected commander in the military. His counter-insurgency strategy was credited with turning the tide in the Iraq War and securing the country so U.S. troops could withdraw. He also commanded a surge of American forces in Afghanistan.
David Petraeus, 60, earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University and was hailed as a “warrior scholar”. Before his resignation, he was mentioned as a possible vice presidential nominee for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
His public image is in shambles after the affair went public.
Media reports indicate that the FBI began investigating David Petraeus’ affair with Paula Broadwell after Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, a friend of Petraeus and his wife Holly, reported that she had received threatening emails from the mistress warning her to stay away from the CIA director.
The authors say that Jill Kelley’s report may have started in the FBI investigation – but CIA officers pressured the Justice Department to keep the inquiry open.
Brandon Webb said his sources in the FBI told him federal agents wanted to close down their investigation when they learned that nothing illegal had happened, but they were told to keep digging. The FBI investigators, Brandon Webb says, never wanted to out David Petraeus’ affair.
Jack Murphy said he learned of the “palace coup” from current and former members of the CIA.
The authors claim that David Petraeus was already on his way out when the scandal broke. They learned weeks before that he was interviewing for teaching jobs at Princeton University.
David Petraeus was furious, they say, because he was kept in the dark about the raids being conducted without his knowledge by the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) across Libya and North Africa.
Brandon Webb and Jack Murphy claim that the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate and a CIA outpost in Benghazi proved to David Petraeus that he was an outsider in the Obama administration and that he would remain marginalized as long as he was at the CIA.
The central premise of Benghazi: The Definitive Report is that the attacks were precipitated by secret raids
JSOC had performed in Libya. An attack on the Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia days before September 11 may have been the final straw.
Heavily-armed militants with Ansar al-Sharia attacked the consulate on September 11 as retaliation, the book claims. Ambassador Chris Stevens and Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith died of smoke inhalation when insurgents set fire to the consulate.
After the raid, the militants launched a second attack against a CIA annex across town. It was there that CIA security contractors Ty Woods and Glen Doherty – both former U.S. Navy SEALs – were killed when their position took a direct hit from an enemy mortar.
Brandon Webb and Jack Murphy said they wrote the book to reveal “the truth” behind the attack. They say news accounts of the incident have often been inaccurate because journalists have not had inside access to the people who were on the ground at the time.
The authors have been frustrated, they say, by politicians who have attempted to twist the facts of the case to suit their own ends. Conservatives sought to use the attack as an election issue and place the blame on Barack Obama.
Democrats and the Obama administration have worked to deflect responsibility and downplay the warning signs that were present before the consulate was raided.
Brandon Webb and Jack Murphy claim that the “inside” story of the attack – as told by their connections in the CIA and special operations units of the military – show that Brennan never warned the CIA or Chris Stevens about ongoing U.S. military operations in the country.
State Department and the intelligence community known about what was happening, they would have stepped up security in Benghazi and could have prevented the tragedy.
Both authors are well-positioned to access classified insider information about the attack. They run SOFREP.com, a news site written and edited by current and former members of the special operations community.
Brandon Webb served as a Navy SEAL for ten years and deployed overseas five times. He left the Navy in 2006. Jack Murphy served eight years in the U.S. Army, including as an Army Ranger and a Special Forces Green Beret. He deployed overseas three times before retiring in 2010. He is currently studying political science at Columbia University.
CIA chief nominee John Brennan will face a grilling soon at a Senate confirmation hearing.
The session comes as lawmakers were to receive secret papers setting out the rationale for drone strikes on Americans working with al-Qaeda abroad.
Members of President Barack Obama’s own Democratic party are concerned about John Brennan’s role in US drone policy.
He was a top CIA official under President George W. Bush.
John Brennan, 57, is also likely to face questions about his position on harsh interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, that were used by the CIA while he was a senior official there.
Correspondents say that despite these concerns there has been no suggestion that members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence object to John Brennan’s nomination.
He is expected to be confirmed by the panel and later by the full Senate.
A vote to confirm former Republican Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel as secretary of defence has been delayed amid opposition from some member of his own party.
John Brennan could face tough questions from Senator Ron Wyden, a Democratic member of the panel, who has vowed to press the nominee on drones.
Senator Wyden told MSNBC: “To make very clear, I am going to push for more declassification of these key kinds of [drone] programmes, and I think we can do that consistent with national security.”
CIA chief nominee John Brennan will face a grilling soon at a Senate confirmation hearing
On the eve of Thursday’s hearing, the committee released John Brennan’s answers to some preliminary questions.
John Brennan said he “had significant concerns and personal objections” about extreme interrogation techniques used by the CIA, adding he was “aware of the program but did not play a role in its creation, execution, or oversight”.
On drones, John Brennan said no new legislation was necessary for the US to conduct operations against al-Qaeda anywhere in the world.
He said individuals were targeted for killing “on a case-by-case basis through a coordinated interagency process” involving intelligence, military, diplomatic and other agencies.
John Brennan also acknowledged “instances when, regrettably and despite our best efforts, civilians have been killed”.
“It is exceedingly rare, and much rarer than many allege,” he added.
John Brennan’s hearing comes a day after the Department of Justice sent Congress documents laying out the legal rationale for targeting and killing US citizens who are suspected of working with terror groups.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate committee, said: “It is critical for the committee’s oversight function to fully understand the legal basis for all intelligence and counterterrorism operations.”
The justice department acted after NBC News published a leaked internal memo explaining some of the legal arguments.
John Brennan is believed to have been deeply involved.
The CIA has carried out drone strikes in Yemen, where three American citizens linked to al-Qaeda have been killed: Anwar al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old-son and Samir Khan.
Recent opinion polls have suggested that the US public generally supports the drone programme, especially when compared with the possibility of ground assault.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who has opposed the appointment of Chuck Hagel as defence secretary, said: “The drone programme to me is a logical use of how you deal with an enemy combatant.”
John Brennan was considered for the top post at the intelligence agency in 2008.
But he withdrew his name from consideration amid protests over public statements he made on the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” such as waterboarding, which are viewed by many as torture.
Florida socialite Jill Kelley has finally broken her silence over David Petraeus affair since the scandal erupted three months ago and said she never met Paula Broadwell, who tried to “blackmail, extort and threaten her”.
Jill Kelley – who has been described as the “other other woman” in David Petraeus affair – has been accused of many things since the scandal erupted.
The Lebanese-born socialite was accused of having an affair with David Petraeus as they exchanged more than 30,000 emails, that she had an affair with General John Allen and that she used cancer charity funds for entertainment purposes.
Jill Kelley, 37, said from the moment the blackmailing email was sent to an account she shared with her husband Scott, her life was turned upside down as she went from wealthy Tampa socialite to a maligned, scamming mistress.
She said she was terrified by the anonymous email and admitted in the barrage that followed there was “blackmail, extortion, threats”.
She would later learn they were from biographer Paula Broadwell, whose affair with David Petraeus triggered his resignation as CIA director.
Speaking to The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz, Jill Kelley said she had no idea who Paula was or of her relationship with Petraeus.
When Jill Kelley complained to a friend in the FBI, she had no idea of the chain of events she was about to set in motion – including finding herself accused of having an affair with General John Allen, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, which both flatly deny.
“I knew I was being stalked. I did what anybody else would have done when they were feeling threatened, to go seek protection from somebody I could trust,” she said.
Jill Kelley has finally broken her silence over David Petraeus affair since the scandal erupted three months ago
In the interview, Jill Kelley mainly dwells on the impact the scandal has had on her husband and children, recounting a party she threw soon after for her daughter’s seventh birthday.
“It was devastating. To have your privacy invaded is truly…there are no words to describe it,” she said.
“Instead of enjoying a family birthday party, I had paparazzi storming my front lawn, pushing down the door. There are no words to describe the panic and fear at that moment.
“As much as I appreciate that [the media] want to be the first one to come out with a headline, regardless of whether they did any fact-checking, they have to consider the impact they have on our life and our children’s lives,” Jill Kelley says.
“Just because it’s repeated doesn’t make it true. It was living a nightmare.”
Jill Kelley said a lot of reports in the media were not true, or greatly exaggerated, including that she had exchanged as many as 30,000 emails with Gen. John Allen.
While she did not provide an estimate, she said it was probably somewhere in the hundreds.
When asked about her relationship with John Allen, whom she met when she hosted a birthday party for David Petraeus’ wife Holly,
“We’re friends, good friends,” she said.
That friendship continued by email when Allen was sent to Kabul.
The general’s promotion to be commander of NATO forces is on hold while investigators examine the email traffic between him and Jill Kelley – but sources have described it as flirtatious and potentially inappropriate.
But she contests this, saying they were sent from an account she shared with her husband and that sometimes John Allen’s wife was even copied in.
Jill Kelley said it has been particularly difficult for her cancer surgeon husband, who she deems “an honorable guy” but what she wants the public to know is simple.
“I’m a dedicated mother, a loving wife. We have a very happy, close family. I support the troops. I take pride in feeding the homeless in our community. This whole situation is just very sad.”
In the fallout from the Petraeus scandal, which cost the decorated former General his job as CIA director, Jill Kelly also lost her title as an Honorary Consul to South Korea.
She was also banned from visiting MacDill Airforce base in her role as a social liaison officer and told to remove vanity license plates that carried the title “Honorary Consul”.
Jill Kelley, a mother of two, has never spoken publicly about her involvement in the scandal but is believed to be writing a tell-all book.
Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite at the centre of CIA director David Petraeus downfall, is planning a tell-all book, according to friends.
Jill Kelley, 37, is understood to have held preliminary talks with publishers to tell her side of the story that led to the resignation of General David Petraeus.
“Trust me, there is going to be a book in the New Year. You can count on it,” said a friend of the Tampa socialite.
She has not spoken about her pivotal role in the scandal which led to David Petraeus’s affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell being exposed last month.
David Petraeus, 60,resigned as CIA director when the affair became known following an FBI investigation that was sparked by Jill Kelley.
Another senior military figure, General John R. Allen, became embroiled in the scandal after allegedly exchanging inappropriate emails with the Tampa based Jill Kelley.
The mother of three had befriended David Petraeus and General John Allen when they were both stationed at US Central Command at the MacDill Air Force Base near her home overlooking Tampa Bay.
She threw lavish parties for the generals and used her connections to military to visit the White House on three occasions.
Jill Kelley was also accused of using her high powered connections to try to secure an $80 million check by brokering an energy deal between a New York businessman and her contacts with the South Korean Government.
Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite at the centre of CIA director David Petraeus downfall, is planning a tell-all book
Friends say Jill Kelley’s book will be “payback” for the humiliation she has suffered since her name became linked to the scandal.
“Jill is very angry, and it’s fair to say she wants to tell her side of the story,” said a friend.
“She has been lampooned on Saturday Night Live and feels she has been made to look like a fool.
“She said her best way of putting the record straight is a book. A TV interview only lasts a few minutes, but a book is there all the time. That is why she has said no to doing any TV. She wants it to be a matter of record and will do TV when the book comes out.”
As an apparently wealthy socialite who schmoozed some of America’s most senior military figures, Jill Kelley has an intriguing story to tell.
With its ingredients of sex, spies and lies any book would likely be a best seller – and generate a large sum of money for the cash-strapped Kelleys.
Jill Kelley and her cancer surgeon husband Scott have faced the embarrassment of having their personal financial details made public.
They owe millions to banks and facing foreclosure on their $1.3 million mansion overlooking Tampa Bay.
Jill Kelley, who enjoys shopping for designer clothes, is being chased for $25,000 in unpaid credit card bills
But despite her perilous financial state being laid bare she told friends the most humiliating part was being compared to the reality star Kim Kardashian.
Jill Kelley and her sister Natalie Khawam have been nicknamed the “Tampa Kardashians”.
A colonel at the MacDill Air Force Base said many people there were considered her a military groupie and likened her to the Kardashians.
“Of everything that has been written and said about her, that is what hurts the most,” said the friend.
“She finds it insulting as the Kardashians go out of their way to get publicity. Jill did not seek any of this.”
As part of the fallout from the scandal Jill Kelley’s role as a goodwill ambassador to the MacDill Air Force Base has been suspended.
She has also been stripped of her title of Honorary Consul that was bestowed upon her by South Korea.
Officials with the South Korean Government said she losing the title for misusing it for personal gain.
Jill Kelley received no official privileges from the title, but did try to claim diplomatic protection when the media swarmed over her house after her name became linked to the scandal.
She has also been ordered to remove the vanity license plate that says Honorary Consul from her silver Mercedes.
Holly Petraeus has reportedly threatened David Petraeus with divorce after she was left humiliated by his affair with Paula Broadwell
Holly Petraeus, former CIA director’s wife of 38 years, has reportedly threatened David Petraeus with divorce after she was left “humiliated” by his affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, it has been claimed today.
Holly Petraeus is reportedly “furious” about the affair, which forced her husband to resign from the top of the CIA ten days ago, and is demanding to know how many other women he has shared trysts with throughout their marriage.
“She can’t turn on a television, go online or open a newspaper without being bombarded by the latest revelations about his cheating,” a source told the National Enquirer.
“No wonder she’s angry. David has been falling all over himself, apologizing and begging Holly to forgive him, but she isn’t listening. After all his lies, she doesn’t believe anything he says anymore, and she’s thinking about consulting a divorce attorney.”
The source claimed Holly Petraeus has suspicions that her husband had an affair with Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite who sparked his downfall after tipping off the FBI about threatening emails from Paula Broadwell.
While David Petraeus denies they have ever been involved, Holly Petraeus is uncertain and keeps demanding to know how many other women he has cheated on her with, the source said.
Jill Kelley has also denied any wrongdoing and said in a statement she was simply a friend of David Petraeus, whom she met through her work at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
Holly and David Petraeus attended lavish garden parties at Jill Kelley’s Tampa, Florida mansion, where she lives with her husband, their three children and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam.
The Petraeuses have been married 38 years after meeting on a blind date when David Petraeus was a student at the military academy at West Point, where Holly’s father was the superintendent.
David Petraeus graduated in June 1947 and the couple married the following month, before going on to have two children, Ann and Stephen, and travelling throughout the world with his work.
Despite moving 24 times in 38 years, Holly Petraeus has also built her own career.
She became a volunteer, performing military and family support roles on bases, before working with service members as a financial advocate to ensure they were treated fairly by businesses.
In 2011, Holly Petraeus was appointed to the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as head of the Office of Servicemember Affairs, a post she still holds.
Holly Petraeus’ threats of divorce come little more than a month after she and her husband were the picture of unity at their daughter’s wedding – three months after David Petraeus’ affair with Paula Broadwell had come to an end.
But on November 9, he stepped down from the CIA after the FBI uncovered his relationship with Paula Broadwell.
The affair was discovered after Paula Broadwell sent a string of “threatening” emails to military party planner Jill Kelley, whom she deemed a threat.
According to friends, Jill Kelley considered some of the anonymous messages death threats, after Paula Broadwell vowed to make Kelley “go away” – and the concerned housewife contacted the FBI.
The anonymous emails contained classified information about David Petraeus’ whereabouts and, thinking there had been a potential national security breach, the FBI was forced to investigate.
During their probe, they traced the emails back to Paula Broadwell and also uncovered emails revealing her months-long affair with David Petraeus, whom she had first met as a student in 2006.
In interviews and her biography of David Petraeus, All In, Paula Broadwell lauded Holly Petraeus as a “wonderful source of information” and revealed that she had read the book and enjoyed it.
In the book, Paula Broadwell recounted details from dozens of hours of interviews between Holly and David Petraeus in a description of how the couple met and fell in love.
Paula Broadwell described the relationship as virtually unbreakable – while at the same time carrying on an illicit affair with David behind Holly Petraeus’ back.
The head of the House Intelligence Committee suggested on Sunday that President Barack Obama might have known about former CIA Director David Petraeus’ extra-marital affair before the November election, and said Attorney General Eric Holder should address this question soon before Congress.
U.S. Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, said Eric Holder’s statement that the Justice Department had not informed the president before the election implied that Holder might have told Barack Obama privately.
Mike Rogers noted that the FBI investigation of the communications between David Petraeus and his biographer Paula Broadwell arose due to concern over a counter-intelligence threat. Both David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell have said they did not share any security secrets, and investigators have said they have found no security breach.
“It probably should have been brought forward earlier as a national security threat,” Mike Rogers said.
“I’m not sure that the president was not told before Election Day. The attorney general said that the Department of Justice did not notify the president, but we don’t know if the attorney general…[notified him],” he said.
Mike Rogers said Eric Holder should come before the intelligence committees to discuss it.
“We could resolve this very quickly with a conversation in the intelligence spaces if he did have that conversation with the president.”
Barack Obama may have known about David Petraeus affair with Paula Broadwell before election
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein disagreed, saying Holder had explained to the intelligence committees there was no notification while the investigation was under way. Justice and the FBI took this approach, she said, “so there is an ability to move ahead without any political weighing-in on any side”.
David Petraeus admitted to the affair and resigned his post at the CIA three days after Barack Obama was elected to a second term on November 6.
Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham called the FBI investigation of the affair “the oddest story in the world” and doubted Barack Obama knew before the election.
The White House did not heavily alter talking points about the attacks on US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, an official said on Saturday.
“If there were adjustments made to them within the intelligence community, that’s common, and that’s something they would have done themselves,” Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, told reporters.
“The only edit … made by the White House was the factual edit as to how to refer to the facility.”
After a closed-door hearing with former CIA Director David Petraeus on Friday, Republican Representative Peter King said that unclassified talking points prepared by the CIA for use by lawmakers about the September 11 attack originally pointed specifically to al Qaeda involvement. Peter King said they were edited before being cleared for use.
Ben Rhodes said the White House, and also the State Department, changed references to a “conflict” at diplomatic facilities, “because the conflict in Benghazi was not formally a conflict. Other than that we worked off the points that were provided by the intelligence community, so I can’t speak to any other edits that may have been made”.
After David Petraeus hearing on Friday, it emerged that unclassified talking points prepared by the CIA for use by lawmakers about Benghazi attack originally pointed specifically to al Qaeda involvement
The assault on the US mission and nearby CIA annex in Benghazi has turned into a flash point between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republicans.
Republicans accuse the White House and in particular the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, of misleading the public just after the attack by suggesting the assault was a spontaneous act instead of a planned terrorist operation. The Obama administration denies misleading anyone and says it discussed information about the Benghazi tragedy as it came in.
“What I can say is those points, and what Susan said, indicated that we believed extremists were involved in this attack,” Ben Rhodes said.
David Petraeus has told US Congress that the CIA believed almost immediately that al-Qaeda-linked terrorists were behind the September 11th attacks in Benghazi, according to a leading Republican congressman.
Representative Peter King of New York, a member of the House Intelligence Committee that David Petraeus briefed, said that the former general left a “different impression” today than he had when he testified on Capitol Hill three days after the attack.
Now, Peter King said, David Petraeus insisted that the “original talking points prepared by the CIA were different than the final ones put out” and used by Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, on Sunday talk shows to say – incorrectly – that the attack was sparked by anger over an anti-Islam video made in California.
“The original talking points were much more specific about al-Qaeda involvement and yet the final ones just said <<indications of extremists>> even though it was clearly evident to the CIA that there was al-Qaeda involvement,” Peter King said.
The former CIA director was giving classified testimony and was accompanied by a CIA analyst. Peter King said David Petraeus did not speak under oath.
David Petraeus arrived early Friday for closed hearings on Capitol Hill as lawmakers seek details from the retired general about the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Peter King said that there was only brief mention by David Petraeus of his affair with biographer Paula Broadwell, which triggered his shock resignation last Friday.
“He was asked at the start did that have any impact on his testimony, he said no…10 seconds into it, that was off to the side.”
David Petraeus has told US Congress that the CIA believed almost immediately that al-Qaeda-linked terrorists were behind the September 11th attacks in Benghazi
The New York congressman said that David Petraeus had explained that the talking points ultimately used by Susan Rice had been altered by inputs by a number of other government agencies after the CIA had made its assessment.
“He said that it goes though a long process, an interagency process and when they came back it was taken out.”
The House Intelligence Committee, which was hearing from David Petraeus before he briefed the Senate Intelligence Committee, met in a secure room several floors below the main area of the Capitol Visitors Centre, where tourists gather when they are visiting Congress.
Republicans and some Democrats have demanded an explanation of why the Obama administration initially described the attack at Benghazi as a protest gone awry, leading to the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, diplomat Sean Smith and CIA contractors and former Navy SEALS Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.
Five days after attack, the administration sent Susan Rice onto the Sunday news shows to describe what precipitated the assault. She relied on initial intelligence talking points that subsequently proved incorrect.
Deputy CIA Director Mike Morell told the House committee on Thursday that Susan Rice was provided with an unclassified version of events at the American mission, according to Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, a committee member.
The assessment concluded that a spontaneous protest over anti-Islam video, The Innocence of Muslims, had evolved into an attack on the American consulate, a description that Rice presented in the television interviews.
David Petraeus hoped that by testifying he would put an end to some of the wilder rumors following his resignation over reveal of his affair with Paula Broadwell.
“He did not like the conspiracies going around that somehow he had something to hide on Benghazi,” said retired Colonel Peter Mansoor, who served as David Petraeus’ executive officer in Iraq.
“I think his offer to testify crossed with the Congress’ request to him to testify. But anyway he looks forward to that.”
The CIA has opened an investigation into the conduct of its former director David Petraeus, who resigned last week citing an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell.
A CIA spokesman says the inquiry by the agency’s inspector general would see if there are any lessons to be learned.
Paula Broadwell, 40, was found to have classified information, but both she and General David Petraeus deny it came from him.
David Petraeus will testify on Friday on Capitol Hill about September’s deadly attack on the US consulate in Libya.
The CIA said in a statement on Thursday: “At the CIA we are constantly reviewing our performance. If there are lessons to be learned from this case we’ll use them to improve.
“But we’re not getting ahead of ourselves; an investigation is exploratory and doesn’t presuppose any particular outcome.”
In his first interview since resigning, David Petraeus told CNN on Thursday he had not given any classified information to his former lover.
He also said he quit because of the affair, not the assault two months ago on the consulate in Benghazi that left four Americans dead.
The CIA has opened an investigation into the conduct of its former director David Petraeus, who resigned last week citing an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell
David Petraeus will be questioned by lawmakers behind closed doors on Friday about that attack, which has been the focus of Republican claims that the Obama administration misled the American people.
Meanwhile, intelligence officials continued on Thursday to defend their handling of the investigation into David Petraeus’ affair.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and acting CIA Director Michael Morell appeared before the House intelligence committee.
Dutch Ruppersberger, the panel’s top Democrat, said after the hearing that he was satisfied with the FBI’s investigation.
He said the agency was right not to have notified political leaders sooner, because of rules set up post-Watergate to prevent meddling in criminal investigations.
But another committee member, Representative Adam Schiff, also a Democrat, said “there’s a lot of information we need … with respect to the facts about the allegations against General Petraeus”.
At a press conference in New Orleans, US Attorney General Eric Holder was also asked why the justice department did not inform the White House or lawmakers earlier about the investigation.
Eric Holder said: “As we went through the investigation and looked at the facts and tried to examine them as they developed, we felt very secure in the knowledge that a national security threat did not exist.”
The scandal was discovered when FBI officials looked into harassing emails, allegedly from Paula Broadwell, that were sent to a Florida socialite who is a family friend of the Petraeuses.
The inquiry has also ensnared the US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen.
John Allen is under investigation for sending what officials describe as “flirtatious” emails to the Tampa hostess, Jill Kelley.
Adultery is illegal under military law, but General John Allen denies wrongdoing.
Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelley, the two women at the centre of the Petraeus sex scandal are facing the prospect of being blackballed by the military establishment.
The US military has revoked access for two women at the heart of the scandal that led to Friday’s resignation of General David Petraeus as CIA director.
Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old Tampa socialite who hosted parties for the nation’s top brass, has been told yesterday that she is no longer welcome at military HQ near her Florida home. Her pass at the Florida air force base where she organized social events has been frozen.
An FBI inquiry into Jill Kelley’s complaints of email harassment revealed that Paula Broadwell and General David Petraeus had been having an affair.
Paula Broadwell, who is a military intelligence reservist with the rank of lieutenant colonel has had her government security clearance suspended pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation.
Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old married mother of two, had apparently sent the anonymous emails to Jill Kelley warning her to stay away from David Petraeus.
Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelley, the two women at the centre of the Petraeus sex scandal are facing the prospect of being blackballed by the military establishment
President Barack Obama says he has seen “no evidence” that former CIA director David Petraeus’ extramarital affair compromised national security.
General David Petraeus’ resignation should be a “sidenote” to his distinguished career, Barack Obama added in his first public comments on the scandal.
The general will testify to Congress about September’s attack on the US consulate in Libya, a top senator says.
Republican senators have called for a joint committee to probe that attack.
Barack Obama declined to say whether the White House should have been informed earlier of the investigation into David Petraeus.
“I am withholding judgment with respect to how the entire process surrounding General Petraeus came up. We don’t have all the information yet,” Barack Obama said.
He added that he had a lot of confidence in the FBI and that they have a “difficult job” to do.
News of the scandal shocked officials in Washington in the immediate aftermath of the US election. Congressional leaders of both parties have said they should have been informed earlier.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said General David Petraeus, who stepped down on Friday, would give evidence only about the Benghazi attack, in which four Americans were killed.
He would not testify about his resignation over an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, she added.
Confirmation that David Petraeus will attend a committee hearing comes after days of reports focusing on the fallout from the revelation that he had an extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell.
After the CIA director’s resignation, it then emerged that Jill Kelley, who filed a harassment report over emails she received that led to the discovery of the affair, was in contact with Marine General John Allen.
The link to General John Allen – currently commanding US forces in Afghanistan and nominated to be the top NATO commander in Europe – prompted the US defence secretary and the White House to stress they have complete confidence in him.
But Leon Panetta requested that Gen Allen’s nomination as Supreme Allied Commander of US and NATO troops in Europe be placed on hold, saying it was the “prudent” thing to do.
President Barack Obama says he has seen no evidence that David Petraeus’ extramarital affair compromised national security
General John Allen has denied any wrongdoing and has spoken to Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to emphasize he is innocent of misconduct, a spokesman for Gen Dempsey said.
David Petraeus could appear before congressional committees as early as Thursday, although no final date for a hearing has been confirmed.
Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the general would be asked about the Benghazi attacks, which took place while he was in charge of the CIA.
The attack – initially blamed on a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islamic film – remains a divisive issue in Washington and a focal point of Republican anger.
Arizona Senator John McCain led a group of Republican senators on Wednesday calling for the establishment of a special committee to investigate the deaths of the four Americans, which included the Ambassador Christopher Stevens, in Benghazi.
They said there was need to find out whether there had been a cover-up over the attack, which Senator Lindsay Graham referred to in the same breath as Watergate and the Iran/Contra scandal.
Republicans have also criticized UN Ambassador Susan Rice, after she cited the protests as the reason for the attacks in appearances on US media.
On Wednesday, Barack Obama said Susan Rice had fulfilled her diplomatic duties with “skill and professionalism, and toughness and grace”, and that it was “outrageous” to muddy her reputation.
The president suggested that Republicans had criticized Susan Rice “apparently because they think she’s an easy target”, and said he would co-operate with congressional investigations into what happened in Benghazi.
Meanwhile, acting CIA Director Michael Morell began meetings with legislators in the Senate on Tuesday to answer questions about David Petraeus’ resignation.
Legislators are concerned about a possible breach of national security after it was reported that classified material was discovered on Paula Broadwell’s computer.
However, FBI officials have said the agency concluded in its investigation that there had not been any security breach.
President Barack Obama has made his first public comments on the scandal at a news conference, before meeting business leaders.
His remarks concentrated on his economic agenda and plans for reaching a deal to avoid a package of spending cuts and tax rises known as the “fiscal cliff”.
While David Petraeus attempts to focus on Benghazi, Pentagon investigators are also examining as many as 30,000 pages of Gen Allen’s documents.
They are said to include extensive communication between the general and Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old, married Florida socialite.
The emails are now understood to have included pet names such as “sweetheart” or “dear” but were not sexually explicit or seductive, the Associated Press reports.
In May, Jill Kelley reported anonymous, harassing emails to the FBI. The agency launched an investigation that traced the emails to Paula Broadwell and revealed her affair with David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley has been described as a “social liaison” for the MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida. Home to the US Central Command, both generals have served at the base in recent years.
The Kelleys are said to have developed close friendships with General David Petraeus and General John Allen, both of whom wrote letters supporting Jill Kelley’s twin sister, Natalie Khawam, in a messy custody battle for her son.
Jill Kelley is known to have thrown extravagant parties for the officers posted there and in August was appointed as an honorary consul representing South Korea, ABC News reports.
It is reported that her Mercedes car displays consular license plates reading “JK1”.
In a recording of a phone call to police on Monday, Jill Kelley asked for diplomatic immunity to have media crews waiting outside her house removed.
“I’m an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property. I don’t know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well,” Jill Kelley can be heard saying.
The military scandal gripping America took an extraordinary twist yesterday, when a second general, John R. Allen, was linked to one of the two women who precipitated the fall of CIA director General David Petraeus.
David Petraeus, 60, hailed by some as the finest officer of his generation, was forced to step down after the exposure of a scandal involving X-rated emails, compromised state secrets and an affair forged in the ruins of Afghanistan.
His mistress was revealed as Paula Broadwell, a glamorous defence academic and ex-army officer, who had written a fawning biography of David Petraeus after she was “embedded” with him in Afghanistan.
Though they conducted their affair via private email accounts and with sufficient discretion to hoodwink even the suspicious minds of his CIA subordinates, it came to light thanks to old-fashioned female jealousy.
Paula Broadwell became convinced that she was, in fact, involved in a love triangle – and not one that involved David Petraeus’ wife, Holly.
The “other woman”, a 37-year-old Florida socialite and mother of three named Jill Kelley, went to the FBI after receiving threatening emails from Paula Broadwell.
But, almost incredibly, the investigation she set in train not only led to the demise of David Petraeus, but has ensnared another senior figure, General John Allen.
Yesterday, the Pentagon announced that General John Allen, 58, – who was about to be appointed NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe – is being investigated for “inappropriate communication” with Jill Kelley.
Paula Broadwell, a glamorous defence academic and ex-army officer, had written a fawning biography of David Petraeus after she was embedded with him in Afghanistan
While investigating Jill Kelley’s case, the FBI discovered what it says amounts to between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of emails between her and General John Allen between 2010 and 2012. Yesterday, some of those emails were described by a senior defence official as “flirtatious”.
John Allen succeeded Petraeus as the head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, but his new European post is now on hold.
Like David Petraeus, John Allen got to know Jill Kelley when he was stationed at Central Command near her home in Tampa, Florida, where she organizes social events for senior military families.
Not only has the widening scandal been disastrous for the Petraeus, Broadwell and Kelley families, but it has also caused major ructions in Washington as the first nightmare of the new Barack Obama presidency.
Some FBI agents considered the missives too trivial to warrant following up, but – encouraged by Jill Kelley’s FBI chum – investigators spent weeks tracing where the emails had been sent from, and eventually matched them to hotels where Paula Broadwell had been staying.
Gaining a warrant to monitor her emails, they discovered Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus – using a pseudonym – had set up private Google Mail accounts to send steamy messages to each other.
(Terrorists use the technique, by which the sender can leave messages in a “draft” folder so the recipient can log in and read them without anything being emailed.)
By late summer, the FBI had worked out the general was involved and – alerting the U.S. Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder – they interviewed Paula Broadwell in September.
Paula Broadwell admitted the affair and agreed to hand over her computer. On its hard drive, investigators found copies of undisclosed classified documents – a discovery that inevitably rang even louder alarm bells. (Federal agents returned to her home on Monday night and removed boxes of documents and two computers.)
Confronted by the FBI with its evidence the week before the presidential election, David Petraeus also admitted to the affair, but insisted he hadn’t sent the secret material to his mistress.
Officials are reportedly convinced David Petraeus is telling the truth, but still don’t know how the documents were found on Paula Broadwell’s computer.
David Petraeus found one surprising defender on Tuesday in conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson.
Pat Robertson, who is host of the Christian current events TV show The 700 Club, seemed to justify the disgraced CIA Director’s relationship with Paula Broadwell.
“The man is in a foreign land and he’s lonely and here’s a good looking lady throwing herself at him and… he’s a man,” Pat Robertson said.
He seemed sympathetic to David Petraeus’ “affairs of the heart”, and implied that he seemed to be a tragic victim.
“I don’t think he’s a devious human being. I think he’s been one of the greatest general America has ever produced. He’s a brilliant man, he’s got a Ph.D. from Princeton,” Pat Robertson said.
He added: “We’ll sadly miss a man like that.”
David Petraeus, one of the country’s most decorated war heroes, resigned from his post as the nation’s top spy on Friday after the FBI stumbled across email evidence of a months-long affair between him and Paula Broadwell.
Both are married with children, but David Petraeus, age 60, is 20 years Paula Broadwell’s senior.
Pat Robertson, who is host of the Christian current events TV show The 700 Club, seemed to justify David Petraeus’ relationship with Paula Broadwell
Pat Robertson said it was easy to explained the attraction between the two.
“She is a Lt. Colonel. She is an extremely good looking woman. She is a marathon runner. She runs Ironman triathlons. And she’s out running with him and she’s writing a biography and… I think the term is propinquity.”
Propinquity is a social science term that explains how intimately people connect with each other based on a combination of physical proximity and how similar their backgrounds and viewpoints are.
The Virginia Beach-based broadcaster’s take on the sex scandal immediately drew fire, especially from liberal groups.
“There is no evidence that Broadwell initiated the relationship and, even if she did, that doesn’t mean that he no responsibility for his decision to engage in extra-marital relations,” wrote left-wing news site Think Progress.
“Apparently Pat Robertson thinks men can’t control their bodies, but they have the divine right to control women’s. Huh.,” tweeted Daily Beat blogger Emily L. Hauser.
An anonymous Wikipedia editor may have tried to reveal General David Petraeus’s extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell back in January this year.
In January, Paula Broadwell appeared on the Daily Show to pitch her book about the CIA director titled All In.
The day after Wikipedia editor Vanobamo created a page for the author, which is common practice on the user-contributed online encyclopedia.
But less than an hour later an anonymous editor logged on to the website and wrote: “Petraeus is reportedly one of her many conquests.”
It was the anonymous user’s first and only Wikipedia edit, reports Gawker.
Their post, with the IP address 64.101.72.113, was deleted within an hour by editor Dsutton, who flagged it as “libel/vandalism”.
At the time news of their affair had not surfaced and Wikipedia reserves the right to delete libelous material posted on the website.
An anonymous Wikipedia editor may have tried to reveal David Petraeus’s affair with Paula Broadwell back in January this year
But now in hindsight, is unknown if Paula Broadwell’s Wikipedia outing was speculation by a Daily Show viewer, or if the poster had secret knowledge of David Petraeus cheating on Holly his wife of 37 years.
Since news of the posting was released, several attempts have been made to track the IP address and determine the poster.
An IP address is an address assigned to every computer and other devices are logged onto the Internet to uniquely define them.
When Gawker ran it through the American Registry for Internet Numbers, they failed to come up with a name, but the result showed a company called Cisco Systems, Inc.
They explained that this means “Cisco, the tech giant based in San Jose, was given that IP address, but anyone could have been using it, and it could have been ported to another location around the world”.
Before last Friday Paula Broadwell’s Wikipedia page was quite bare, but then former CIA director David Petraeus resigned.
General John R. Allen is the second top military official dragged into the David Petraeus sex scandal after being accused of sending thousands of “inappropriate” emails to socialite Jill Kelley, the woman responsible for exposing the former CIA director’s extra-marital affair.
General John R. Allen, commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, is under investigation by the FBI after the agency discovered between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of communication between him and 37-year-old housewife Jill Kelley.
Jill Kelley entered the public eye when she was the target of threatening emails from Paula Broadwell, which the FBI used to uncover the affair between Broadwell and david Petraeus, leading to the former general’s resignation from the CIA.
John Allen, 58, who is married with two daughters, succeeded David Petraeus in Afghanistan and was due to take over as NATO’s top commander – his appointment has been suspended while his relationship with Jill Kelley is investigated.
John Allen, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1976, was Deputy Commander of Central Command, based in Tampa, prior to taking over in Afghanistan. He also is a veteran of the Iraq war.
He lives in Washington D.C. with his wife, Kathy, with whom he has two daughters, Bobbie and Betty. Betty is a teacher, while Bobbie, a 27-year-old graduate of Virginia Tech, is a singer and released her debut album last year.
John Allen, who is married with two daughters, succeeded David Petraeus in Afghanistan and was due to take over as NATO’s top commander
After growing up in Oakton, Virginia, John Allen graduated with military honors from the Naval Academy with the class of 1976. He is a 1998 distinguished graduate of the National War College.
John Allen holds a master of arts degree in national security studies from Georgetown University, a master of science degree in strategic intelligence from the Defense Intelligence College, and a master of science degree in national security strategy from the National War College.
General John R. Allen assumed his duties as the Commander, International Security Assistance Force – Afghanistan and United States Forces – Afghanistan on July 18, 2011.
John Allen played a key role in countering the Iraq insurgency between 2006 and 2008. He then oversaw a surge in US troops in Afghanistan in battling the Taliban.
In Afghanistan, General John R. Allen commanded coalition troops from 50 different countries.
He was nominated in October by President Barack Obama to be Supreme Allied Commander Europe and commander of the U.S. European Command – that is now on hold.
But if John Allen is found to have engaged in an extramarital affair – a crime in the military – he faces being court martialed, bringing a spectacular fall from grace and the end to a glittering army career that has spanned nearly 40 years.
President Barack Obama had nominated John Allen to take over as chief of the military’s European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, but that nomination is now on hold as the Pentagon investigates Allen’s relationship with Kelley, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters.
John Allen had been expected to take that new post in early 2013 if confirmed by the Senate, as had been widely expected.
The FBI notified the Pentagon of its investigation into John Allen’s communications with Jill Kelley on Sunday evening, an unnamed senior defence official said.
Leon Panetta said he immediately notified the White House and top leaders in Congress of the investigation.
Leon Panetta said John Allen would remain as commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan for now, “while the matter is under investigation and before the facts are determined”.
Pentagon officials have declined to comment on the nature of the relationship between Jill Kelley and John Allen except to say that it was “potentially inappropriate”.
Officials have not said whether any national security secrets were breached.
FBI agents are searching the Charlotte, North Carolina home of Paula Broadwell, whose affair with retired general David Petraeus led to his resignation as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Agents reportedly arrived at Paula Broadwell’s home at about 10 p.m. on Monday carrying a load of boxes. Agents appeared to be rummaging through every room of the house, taking pictures and filling boxes with various items from inside, according to reporters on the scene.
The FBI has declined to comment on the specific reason for the agents’ late-night search of Paula Broadwell’s home, which was still underway after midnight.
The search is likely related to an ongoing criminal investigation into harassing emails sent from email accounts linked to Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old mother of two.
FBI agents are searching the Charlotte home of Paula Broadwell, whose affair with retired general David Petraeus led to his resignation as CIA director
Paula Broadwell sent the emails to 37-year-old Jill Kelley of Tampa, Florida, in which she cryptically warned her to stay away from David Petraeus.
Paula Broadwell, who wrote a biography on David Petraeus, was involved in an affair with the four-star general at the time and she believed that Jill Kelley was a potential love rival.
Jill Kelley, a housewife who organizes social events for military personnel, has said that she and David Petraeus were only acquaintances.
The FBI conducted an investigation into the emails and were shocked to learn how much access that Paula Broadwell appeared to have to David Petraeus, officials said. The federal agency eventually determined that no national security secrets had been breached by the relationship, however they did find classified materials on Paula Broadwell’s computer.
Paula Broadwell spent hours interviewing Holly Petraeus, former CIA Director’s wife, about the couple’s relationship while she was secretly carrying on an illicit affair with David Petraeus.
Paula Broadwell, 40, called Holly Petraeus “a wonderful source of information” for her research on the once esteemed army general, who resigned from the CIA Friday after admitting that he engaged in an affair with his biographer.
In her book, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus, Paula Broadwell recounted details from dozens of hours of interviews between Holly and David Petraeus in a description of how the couple met and fell in love. She described the relationship as virtually unbreakable, while at the same time, she was carrying on an illicit affair with David behind Holly’s back.
Holly Petraeus is “furious” as details of Paula Broadwell’s relationship continue to emerge, according to a former spokesman for David Petraeus.
Retired U.S. Army Col. Steve Boylan described the Petraeus family’s outrage: “His children may be grown up, but he still has to regain their trust.”
“Holly is disappointed, upset and furious… but they have been married for 37 years and I hope they can get through this.”
Steve Boylan said that David Petraeus is still living at home with his wife despite revelations of his eight-month affair with his biographer.
He also revealed that David Petraeus has contacted his former mistress – his biographer and a married mother of two, Paula Broadwell – over recent weeks, despite ending the affair four months ago.
The couple had mutually agreed to stop their illicit affair, knowing what they were doing was “wrong”. But “David and Paula were still in contact about Paula’s dissertation”.
When asked if their marriage could survive, he added: “I hope so, they are a strong couple, but every day is a challenge. All David is focused on now is saving his family.”
Col. Steve Boylan said that Holly Petraeus had been told of the affair on Thursday before he met with President Barack Obama to offer his resignation.
“She is very classy, very unassuming,” he said.
“She has established herself and her own career in her own manner.
“She’s a very lovely lady, endearing. But she is also someone I would not want to get angry at me.
“It’s those reserved, quiet types you have to look out for. But she’s a joy to be around, a very gracious and caring individual.”
Paula Broadwell spent hours interviewing Holly Petraeus about the couple’s relationship while she was secretly carrying on an illicit affair with David Petraeus
In Paula Broadwell’s book, she described Holly Petraeus as a witty head-turner.
“In the fall of 1973, Holly Knowlton was a senior at Dickinson College, a beautiful, smart and witty young woman,” Paula Broadwell wrote.
At the time, David Petraeus was attending West Point.
“On a visit to West Point one football weekend, a friend of the family had hoped to fix her up with a certain cadet to take her to the game,” Paula Broadwell wrote.
“But when he was otherwise engaged, a call was placed to the cadet brigade headquarters to find a replacement…David Petraeus. Not knowing who his blind date was, he agreed to take on this potentially sensitive mission.”
David Petraeus fell fast for Holly Knowlton, but not just for her looks and wit, according to Paula Broadwell.
The army cadet found Holly Petraeus’ high-profile military family – her father was the superintendent at West Point – “intoxicating”, Paula Broadwell wrote.
“Soon, the two would find themselves commuting to each other’s colleges whenever time allowed, sometimes braving fierce New York snowstorms to spend time together,” according to Paula Broadwell.
“Petraeus would sneak into the superintendent’s side door to visit Holly when she made the trip back to West Point.”
David Petraeus told friends that his affair with Paula Broadwell began around the time that he was appointed director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the summer of 2011 and that he cut off the relationship four months ago.
The affair was revealed by an FBI investigation into threatening emails that Paula Broadwell had anonymously sent to Jill Kelley, whom she believed to be a rival for David Petraeus’s attention.
The FBI traced the emails to Paula Broadwell and uncovered the affair, which eventually led to David Petraeus’s decision last week to resign and admit to the infidelity publicly.
In advertising her book, Paula Broadwell said she has a fierce competitive streak, which is probably what led her to email another woman that she considered her rival.
On an official Web site for her book, which has since been removed, Paula Broadwell explains: “I was driven when I was younger. Driven at West Point where is much more competitive in that women were competing with men on many levels, and I was driven in the military and at Harvard, both competitive environments.”
Just as her affair with David Petraeus was budding, Paula Broadwell went on a book tour to promote her biography of Petraeus and she heaped praise on Holly.
“As a working mother and wife, my husband works really works hard, it’s hard to find balance, you know, it’s pretty clear and Holly’s pretty clear that she’s supported him and yet they have this wonderful marriage and very established children,” Paula Broadwell said in February.
Paula Broadwell also added that she likes “teasing” the general for being “monodirectional”.
“He doesn’t like to do anything besides run and do P.T. and read and work, you know, and go out to dinner with Holly,” Paula Broadwell said.
“I don’t know if that’s a weakness, but I feel like he could have more balance and learn to relax.”
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