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jill kelley
Today it was revealed that Jill Kelley had access to “influential figures in the global area” before she was even out of school.
Jill Kelley, now 37, was a member of the World Affairs Council while still a student at Lower Moreland High School in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania.
Students were taken on trips and given the opportunity to meet dignitaries at the highest level including presidents, prime ministers and princes.
Among those who have spoken at her local branch of the respected organization include Prince Albert of Monaco, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Tony Blair.
General David Petraeus also made an appearance, but it was in 2010 and long after she had left school.
Jill Kelley has become the central figure in the scandal which has caused David Petraeus, 60, to step down as head of the CIA and forced General John Allen to stand down from his post leading US troops in Afghanistan.
General John Allen, who is married, sent her between 20,000 to 30,000 e-mail messages, some of which were of an inappropriate nature.
General David Petraeus’ mistress, Paula Broadwell, an Army reservist who was also his biographer, is said to have emailed Jill Kelley and warned her to back off because she was jealous, which led to the affair becoming public when the FBI got involved.
Judging by pictures in her high school yearbook, Jill Kelley was glamorous even at the age of 18 and well aware of her charms.
She posed wearing a black dress and pearls around her neck with her jet black hair tumbling over her left shoulder.
Her body is turned to the left and she has a radiant grin on her face.
Jill Kelley appears not to have been a prominent member of school but did take part in a number of activities, notably the World Affairs Council.
According to the Philadelphia branch of the nationwide non-profit organization, it was founded in 1949 to inform people of all ages “on matters of national and international significance”.
Among the other guest speakers have been Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Joe Biden, Al Gore and Donald Rumsfeld.
Its website says: “The Council provides its members and the greater Philadelphia community with access to influential figures in the global area as well as opportunities to visit fascinating destinations through its unique travel program.”
Jill Kelley, now 37, was a member of the World Affairs Council while still a student at Lower Moreland High School in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
Jill Kelley – who appears in the yearbook under her maiden name Khawam – was also a “Mathlete” and would have competed against other schools in math competitions.
She claims to have written for student newspaper Lion’s Roar which allowed students to “freely vent their creative juices”, the yearbook says.
The newspaper also started up a world news section because, according to its 1993 editor Sharon Herring, there was concern students were “lacking in their knowledge of the outside world|.
Another string to Jill Khawam’s bow was the Future Business Leaders of America whose members took part in competitions where they learned skills that would be useful at work, such as typing and accounting.
In the yearbook Stephanie Simon said: “I believe that FBLA not only exposes students to the important field of business, but it also aides the community.
“Students are able to get a taste of the real world in more ways than one.”
Jill Khawam also appears to have had a strong moral compass and was a member of SADD – Students Against Drunk Driving – another group called Students For a More Conscious Society, the student council, a community outreach program called Operation Smile and the Red Cross
Her other activities were computer club, science club, orchestra basketball, cross country running, field hockey, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field and orchestra.
Jill Khawam grew up in Philadelphia with her family, who emigrated there from Lebanon in the 1970s.
Her parents, John and Marcelle Khawam, once ran a Middle Eastern restaurant and now live in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania.
In her yearbook entry, Jill Khawam’s twin sister Natalie Kwaham wears the same clothes as her sister and is also smiling.
Her activities included concert choir, the World Affairs Council and Students For A More Conscious Society.
The sisters moved to Tampa, Florida around ten years ago where they both became regulars on the social circuit.
Jill Kelley’s husband Scott works as a surgeon, while Natalie Khawam is a lawyer who specializes in dealing with whistleblowers, which has newfound irony considering Jill was the one whose contact with the FBI led to the resignation of a well-respected general and the investigation into another.
A friend, who has known Jill Kelley for almost a decade, said that the revelation that she exchanged between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of communications with General John Allen comes as a surprise.
“This has come as a complete shock. You never know what goes on behind closed doors, but no one in her circle saw this coming,” said one of her friends.
“Jill was well known for throwing parties where the military attended and she reveled in her role as honorary ambassador but sending all those emails to a general is another thing.”
Her brother, David Khawam, has also revealed their fear that she will be branded the “other woman”.
Speaking to the Today show, he said: “This is something that is going to brand her for life.
“My sister, number one, is a mother. She has three kids and is extremely dedicated to those kids.
“Number two she is a wife. She is extremely dedicated to her husband and he to her. For her to have an affair with General Petraeus is ludicrous.”
Jill Kelley regularly kept in touch with then-General David Petraeus when he became commander of the Afghan war effort, the two exchanging near-daily emails and instant messages, two of his former staffers say.
But those messages were exchanged in accounts that his aides monitored as part of their duties and were not romantic in tone, the staffers said.
David Khawam added that he expected his sister, who has hired the crisis management firm employed by Monica Lewinsky and the attorney who represented John Edwards earlier this year, to address reports about her involvement with two of the top US military chiefs.
General John Allen and his wife Kathy were pictured laughing as they rip open Christmas presents and serious-faced as they support each other at official events.
But this solidarity now threatens to crumble, after John Allen was found to have sent thousands of “inappropriate” emails to military socialite Jill Kelley, launching an FBI and Pentagon investigation.
The general, who leads U.S. troops in Afghanistan, allegedly exchanged tens of thousands of messages with Jill Kelley, the Florida housewife who sparked the probe into the David Petraeus affair.
But intimate photo albums give a glimpse into John Allen’s happy family life, while his daughter’s blog reveals how their support and love of music helped her realize her dream of becoming a singer.
John Allen, who grew up in Oakton, Virginia and has enjoyed a glittering military career spanning nearly four decades, has a wife, Kathy, and two daughters, Bobbie and Betty.
In photographs from the family Christmas, Kathy Allen, who calls herself “PudgeMom” on social networking sites, laughs as she opens presents and chats with her family.
In photographs from the family Christmas, Kathy Allen, who calls herself PudgeMom on social networking sites, laughs as she opens presents and chats with her family
Bobbie Allen, 27, has revealed how her military upbringing shaped her, and has told how she was inspired to sing by her mother, who would always sing in the house.
Now living in Washington DC, Bobbie Allen revealed that music helped her during a transient childhood.
She called Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, home twice while growing up – and even performed there last year.
According to Bobbie, her mother Kathy Allen carried their stereo system by hand to every new duty station they moved to and it was the first thing they set up in their new homes, saying: “That’s when life could begin.
“If we’d had a bad day at school, she would put on happy music and make us dance. Music was the fifth member of our family.”
Writing on her blog, Bobbie Allen said she was inspired by Karen Carpenter, calling her voice “liberating and inspiring”.
Bobbie Allen said she always kept her tape deck playing, and sang to herself in the backseat of the car as the family moved around.
Natalie Khawam, the twin sister of Jill Kelley, the Petraeus sex scandal whistle blower and now alleged “sweetheart” of General John Allen, is the latest person to be named in the saga, after it emerged both men wrote a letter to help her in a nasty custody battle with her ex-husband.
Divorced mother-of-one Natalie Khawam, 37, lives in the same $1.3 million house in Tampa, Florida, as her sister Jill Kelley and cancer surgeon husband Scott.
It emerged today that Generals David Petraeus and John Allen wrote letters supporting the child-custody battle between Natalie Khawam – who was described as being “psychologically unstable” – and her ex-husband Grayson Wolfe.
The New York Post reported David Petraeus wrote the letter just two months ago, supporting a motion to overturn a ruling made almost a year earlier by a judge.
At this time, the judge resoundingly denied custody to Natalie Khawam, saying he had serious concerns and reservations over her mental stability and her grasp on reality.
He also cited her with “outrageous conduct”, “bad faith litigation tactics”, and “illogical thinking” before awarding full custody to the father, Grayson Wolfe – who had been unable to see his child for more than a year.
According to court documents, David Petraeus wrote in the September 20 letter to the DC judge: “My wife and I have known Natalie for approximately three years, getting to know her while serving in Tampa, Florida, through our friendship with Dr. and Mrs. Scott Kelley.
“It is clear to me that [child’s name] would benefit from much more time with his Mother and from removal of the burdensome restrictions imposed on her when she does get to spend time with him.”
David Petraeus added that he had observed Natalie Khawam and her son, “including when we hosted them and the Kelley family for Christmas dinner this past year. In each case, we have seen a very loving relationship – a mother working hard to provide her son enjoyable, educational and developmental experiences”.
A separate letter from General John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, dated two days later said: “Natalie clearly loves [child’s name] and cherishes each and every opportunity she has to spend time with him. She is a dedicated mother.
“In light of Natalie’s maturity, integrity and steadfast commitment to raising her child, I humbly request your reconsideration of the existing mandated custody settlement.”
David Petraeus and John Allen helped Natalie Khawam, the twin sister of Jill Kelley, in a nasty custody battle with her ex-husband
John Allen said he got to observe the mother and child “at command social functions”.
He is currently under investigation by the FBI after the agency discovered between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of communication between him and Jill Kelley.
According to the New York Post, a judge in November 2011 gave Grayson Wolfe sole custody of the couple’s son after finding that Natalie Khawam, a lawyer, repeatedly lied under oath and filed false domestic-violence and child-abuse claims against her husband.
Natalie Khawam was also accused of defying court orders to allow her estranged husband Grayson Wolfe access to their son and sent emails to his friends and colleagues telling them he was a “horrible father and husband”.
She was reprimanded for giving false evidence and a psychiatrist found the allegations against her ex-husband were a “part of an ever-expanding set of sensational accusations…that are so numerous, so extraordinary and so distorted that they defy any common-sense view of reality”.
But Natalie Khawam’s troubles don’t just end there. She is also currently being sued in Montgomery County for failing to pay the lawyer’s fees in her divorce – believed to be in the region of $100,000.
The case has been on the court docket for nearly a-year-and-a-half but took a backward step in April when she filed for bankruptcy.
On the bankruptcy filing, Natalie Khawam lists $3.2 million in unpaid debt, plus $53,000 she owes the Internal Revenue Service.
Earlier this year, Natalie Khawam’s former employer, prominent Tampa Bay lawyer Barry Cohen, claimed that she “fraudulently omitted Rolex watches, sable mink furs and a diamond ring” from her list of assets in the April bankruptcy.
In July of this year, Natalie Khawam and her attorney Will Florin sued Barry Cohen on six counts including sexual harassment and breach of contract claims.
Natalie Khawam said that Barry Cohen owed her money and failed to properly take action when she reported a sexual harassment issue involving a financial officer doing work for the law firm.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Barry Cohen is trying to dismiss the case and is fighting back with claims of perjury and bankruptcy fraud against Natalie Khawam.
He told the paper he has been delving into her background ever since the filing and, as well as discovering the bankruptcy documents, he found the 19-page child custody order from the Washington DC, superior court judge calling Natalie Khawam out in 2011 for a lengthy “history of abusing the litigation process” and a “willingness to say anything, even under oath, to advance her own personal interests”.
Barry Cohen said in August the lawsuit has only further inspired him to continue advocating for his own clients.
“It takes a long time to build a good reputation, and it only takes a one accusation to tear it down,” Barry Cohen said.
“What this did was re-inspire me to protect the people I protect. It makes me able to better empathize when they’re falsely accused and gives me more motivation because I’ve been there.”
Paula Broadwell sent an anonymous email to General John Allen about Florida socialite Jill Kelley, as she suspected Kelley of having a romantic relationship with David Petraeus as well.
The cyber love triangle expanded as it was revealed today that John Allen was electronically connected with Paula Broadwell after he received an email from one of her dummy accounts. He then went on to tell Jill Kelley, a married mom that he denies having an affair with, who in turn reported the emails to the FBI.
Because of their respective involvement in the unfolding case, the Pentagon has requested access to the 20,000-30,000 pages of communications between John Allen, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and Jill Kelley.
In light of the extra marital affair between Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus, Pentagon spokesmen have been quick to dismiss ideas of a similar affair between John Allen and Jill Kelley though their confirmation of some “inappropriate communication” among those thousands of pages of emails has sparked further curiosity about the nature of their relationship.
One divulged example reported in The Washington Post was John Allen’s use of the word “sweetheart” in referring to married Jill Kelley, but a senior Pentagon official said that proves nothing as the 58-year-old general is from Virginia and the word is used in the south as a platonic phrase and not one demonstrating a romantic relationship.
Paula Broadwell sent an anonymous email to General John Allen about Florida socialite Jill Kelley, as she suspected Kelley of having a romantic relationship with David Petraeus as well
Jill Kelley runs in the same social circle as both David Petraeus and John Allen as she serves as an unpaid social liaison for the military and often hosts events at her million-dollar home located only a couple of miles from MacDill Air Force base. John Allen served there from July 2008 to June 2011.
John Allen, a four-star Marine general, succeeded David Petraeus as the top American commander in Afghanistan in July 2011.
Paula Broadwell reportedly sent the emails from dummy accounts she had set up to Jill Kelley, FoxNews.com reported.
Spooked by the bullying in her inbox, Jill Kelley notified the FBI.
A government official told the New York Post that the emails contained such language as: “I know what you did”, “back off” and “stay away from my guy”.
What followed was an intense FBI probe in which Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus – both married with two children – admitted to investigators that they had engaged in on-the-side sexual trysts.
The emails were not the first time Paula Broadwell had raised red flags while behind a computer.
Advisers to David Petraeus had become suspicious Paula Broadwell due to her playful Facebook status updates they claim disclosed sensitive details about military operations in Afghanistan.
General John Allen, who is now under investigation by the FBI for allegedly exchanging thousands of “inappropriate” emails with military socialite Jill Kelley, simply called her “sweetheart”, a top official has claimed today.
In a dramatic new twist in the David Petraeus sex scandal, General John Allen reportedly exchanged 20,000 to 30,000 emails with Jill Kelley, the woman who sparked the probe into the CIA boss.
Jill Kelley, a housewife and unpaid social liaison for the military in Tampa, tipped off the FBI about threatening emails from David Petraeus’ mistress, Paula Broadwell, exposing the affair and leading to his resignation.
These latest revelations mean General John Allen, who is married with two adult daughters, is the second top military official to be dragged into the David Petraeus scandal.
John Allen, who is under FBI investigation for exchanging thousands of inappropriate emails with Jill Kelley, simply called her sweetheart
John Allen, 58, succeeded David Petraeus in Afghanistan and was due to take over as NATO’s top commander – but his appointment has been suspended while his relationship with Kelley is investigated.
A top official told the Washington Post that John Allen simply used the word “sweetheart” – which he said proves nothing as the general is from Virginia, where it is used as a platonic phrase.
“He’s never been alone with her,” the official said.
“Did he have an affair? No.”
The senior official added that Kathy Allen, the general’s wife, and Jill Kelley were “good friends”.
General John Allen’s daughter, Bobbie Allen, a 26-year-old singer and songwriter, joined her mother Kathy to support her father at the committee in March.
But while they appeared the picture of unity, the family has been thrown into the midst of a scandal, after General John Allen was found to have sent thousands of “inappropriate” emails to military socialite Jill Kelley.
John Allen is now under investigation by the FBI for his communication with Jill Kelley, a housewife and volunteer who organizes social events for military families in the Tampa area.
His daughter, Bobbie Allen, has revealed how her military upbringing shaped her, and has told how she was inspired to sing by her mother Kathy, who would always sing in the house.
Now living in Washington DC, Bobbie Allen, who has a sister called Betty, revealed that music helped her during a transient childhood.
Bobbie Allen called Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, home twice while growing up – and even performed there last year.
General John Allen’s daughter, Bobbie Allen, a 26-year-old singer and songwriter, joined her mother Kathy to support her father at the committee in March
According to Bobbie Allen, her mother carried their stereo system by hand to every new duty station they moved to and it was the first thing they set up in their new homes, saying: “That’s when life could begin.
“If we’d had a bad day at school, she would put on happy music and make us dance. Music was the fifth member of our family.”
Writing on her blog, Bobbie Allen said she was inspired by Karen Carpenter, calling her voice “liberating and inspiring”.
She said she always kept her tape deck playing, and sang to herself in the backseat of the car as the family moved around.
But despite her lifelong love of singing, Bobbie Allen had never seriously considered a music career until after graduating college from Virginia Tech with an English degree.
She said: “I realized that life isn’t about waiting around for things to happen to you.
“I know it sounds cliché but I have never felt more comfortable than with a guitar in my hands and singing.”
Bobbie Allen released her debut album, Ready or Not, in June 2011 and it is available on iTunes and Amazon.com.
But while she has great hopes for a future in the spotlight, now Bobbie Allen is getting the sort of attention she cannot have hoped for.
Her father, 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 General David Petraeus’ mistress, Paula Broadwell, which the FBI used to uncover the affair, leading to his resignation.
John Allen was due to take over as NATO’s top commander, but his appointment has been suspended while his relationship with Jill Kelley is investigated.
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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.
The FBI started probing emails sent by Paula Broadwell to Jill Kelley, a family friend of David Petraeus, in May 2012, and soon discovered that she had been in a romantic relationship with the decorated former general.
September 6, 2011:
David Petraeus was unanimously appointed to be the head of the Central Intelligence Agency after spending over 37 years in the military.
November 2011:
David Petraeus allegedly began his affair with Paula Broadwell, a former Army reservist and doctoral researcher who was writing a biography of Petraeus.
May 2012:
The FBI first officially knew that Paula Broadwall was sending threatening emails to Jill Kelley, a family friend of David Petraeus. There is no indication that Jill Kelley had any sort of romantic affair with David Petraeus, but the threatening nature of the emails from Paula Broadwell suggest that she felt threatened in some way by Jill Kelley’s close connection to David Petraeus.
End of Summer 2012:
Paula Broadwall’s affair with David Petraeus is thought to have formally ended in July, though it was not until the end of the summer that the FBI realized it was David Petraeus emailing Paula Broadwall because he had been using a Gmail account established under a pseudonym for their personal communications, some of which was sexually explicit in nature.
At an unspecified date at the end of the summer, the FBI investigators notified the Attorney General’s office – and Attorney General Eric Holder himself – because they needed the authority to interview Paula Broadwall and David Petraeus. In telling the AG, investigators were clear that they were looking into the possibility of pressing criminal charges against Paula Broadwell for either her threats against Jill Kelley or any illegal action that stemmed from the communication with David Petraeus.
David Petraeus allegedly began his affair with Paula Broadwell in November 2011, after he was appointed CIA director
September 2012:
Paula Broadwell was first interviewed at some point in September, when she admitted to the affair and turned over her computer.
October 2012:
In mid-October, Republican Representative David Reichert was told of a national security investigation involving David Petraeus by an unidentified FBI informant. David Reichert then forwarded that tip to Eric Cantor, the House Majority leader and the one of the most powerful Republicans in the country, on October 27.
The week before the Election, late October 2012:
From there, the circle began to widen as David Petraeus himself was interviewed the week before the Election, during which he admitted the affair but said that he was not the one to give Paula Broadwall the classified documents that investigators found on her computer.
She echoed that statement during her second interview with investigators on November 2. FBI and justice department officials then discussed their findings for three days, deciding that they did not have sufficient evidence to charge either Paula Broadwall or David Petraeus on a criminal level.
Election Day, November 6, 2012:
At 5:00 p.m. on Election Day, the FBI told Director of National Intelligence James Clapper about their investigation, and he waited until Wednesday evening to tell White House officials that David Petraeus was considering resigning.
Thursday November 8, 2012:
It was not until Thursday that President Barack Obama was informed, and he met with David Petraeus that day but did not immediately accept his resignation, waiting until Friday to let the disgraced General quit.
In the hours before David Petraeus’ public announcement on Friday, the circle drastically widened and Senator Dianne Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee learned of the plan.
Dianne Feinstein contacted David Petraeus and asked him whether he thought it was truly necessary for him to leave his post. Citing his belief in leadership coming from the top-down, he said it was the best thing for him to do.
US Attorney General Eric Holder is under fire as questions emerge over why he did not tell President Barack Obama that David Petraeus was having an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell.
Eric Holder was told by the FBI that they were investigating the relationship between the director of the CIA and Paula Broadwell in late summer, but appears not to have shared the information with anyone else.
Barack Obama did not find out about the scandal until Wednesday – just two days before David Petraeus resigned – even though multiple senior politicians had apparently been aware of it for months.
The revelation that Eric Holder knew about David Petraeus’ infidelity could increase pressure on Barack Obama to replace him when he puts together his Cabinet for the next four years.
The FBI started probing emails sent by Paula Broadwell to Jill Kelley, a family friend of David Petraeus, in May 2012, and soon discovered that she had been in a romantic relationship with the decorated former general.
Towards the end of the summer, the FBI contacted Eric Holder’s office in order to seek the authority to interview Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus.
The Attorney General, a longtime ally of Barack Obama, must have known about the affair from this point, but did not tell the President about it despite the possibility it could end the career of David Petraeus, one of the most respected soldiers of his generation.
Conservatives – who have long opposed Eric Holder over his role in the botched “Fast and Furious” gun-running investigation – attacked the Attorney General over his silence.
“The idea that the White House didn’t learn of this potential problem until Election Day, I just find incomprehensible,” John Bolton, former ambassador to the UN, told Fox News.
“Did the Attorney General sit on this information for two months?”
Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz added: “Notification should have also gone to the President – immediately.”
Attorney General Eric Holder is under fire as questions emerge over why he did not tell President Barack Obama that David Petraeus was having an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell
David Petraeus’ affair: who knew what and when. The timeline of the downfall
September 6, 2011:
David Petraeus was unanimously appointed to be the head of the Central Intelligence Agency after spending over 37 years in the military.
November 2011:
David Petraeus allegedly began his affair with Paula Broadwell, a former Army reservist and doctoral researcher who was writing a biography of Petraeus.
May 2012:
The FBI first officially knew that Paula Broadwall was sending threatening emails to Jill Kelley, a family friend of David Petraeus. There is no indication that Jill Kelley had any sort of romantic affair with David Petraeus, but the threatening nature of the emails from Paula Broadwell suggest that she felt threatened in some way by Jill Kelley’s close connection to David Petraeus.
End of Summer 2012:
Paula Broadwall’s affair with David Petraeus is thought to have formally ended in July, though it was not until the end of the summer that the FBI realized it was David Petraeus emailing Paula Broadwall because he had been using a Gmail account established under a pseudonym for their personal communications, some of which was sexually explicit in nature.
At an unspecified date at the end of the summer, the FBI investigators notified the Attorney General’s office – and Attorney General Eric Holder himself – because they needed the authority to interview Paula Broadwall and David Petraeus. In telling the AG, investigators were clear that they were looking into the possibility of pressing criminal charges against Paula Broadwell for either her threats against Jill Kelley or any illegal action that stemmed from the communication with David Petraeus.
September 2012:
Paula Broadwell was first interviewed at some point in September, when she admitted to the affair and turned over her computer.
October 2012:
In mid-October, Republican Representative David Reichert was told of a national security investigation involving David Petraeus by an unidentified FBI informant. David Reichert then forwarded that tip to Eric Cantor, the House Majority leader and the one of the most powerful Republicans in the country, on October 27.
The week before the Election, late October 2012:
From there, the circle began to widen as David Petraeus himself was interviewed the week before the Election, during which he admitted the affair but said that he was not the one to give Paula Broadwall the classified documents that investigators found on her computer.
She echoed that statement during her second interview with investigators on November 2. FBI and justice department officials then discussed their findings for three days, deciding that they did not have sufficient evidence to charge either Paula Broadwall or David Petraeus on a criminal level.
Election Day, November 6, 2012:
At 5:00 p.m. on Election Day, the FBI told Director of National Intelligence James Clapper about their investigation, and he waited until Wednesday evening to tell White House officials that David Petraeus was considering resigning.
Thursday November 8, 2012:
It was not until Thursday that President Barack Obama was informed, and he met with David Petraeus that day but did not immediately accept his resignation, waiting until Friday to let the disgraced General quit.
In the hours before David Petraeus’ public announcement on Friday, the circle drastically widened and Senator Dianne Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee learned of the plan.
Dianne Feinstein contacted David Petraeus and asked him whether he thought it was truly necessary for him to leave his post. Citing his belief in leadership coming from the top-down, he said it was the best thing for him to do.
The resignation of David Petraeus, sparked by the revelation that the former general was having an affair with biographer Paula Broadwell, is the biggest sex scandal to hit Washington since Bill Clinton was revealed to have had “sexual relations” with Monica Lewinsky.
And the parallels between the two events are growing stronger as it has been revealed that both mistress Paula Broadwell and whistleblower Jill Kelley who exposed them have hired legal advisers who previously worked with Monica Lewinsky.
Jill Kelley, the Florida housewife who was dragged in to the scandal when she started receiving abusive emails from an anonymous source, has hired Monica Lewinsky’s crisis manager to help her deal with the publicity she is facing after the resignation of the former CIA director.
And Paula Broadwell, who carried out an affair with David Petraeus over several months after writing his biography, is being represented by an attorney from the firm which once represented Monica Lewinsky.
Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelley both hire Monica Lewinsky’s aides to help deal with David Petraeus scandal
Jill Kelley has hired Abbe Lowell, the attorney who defended John Edwards earlier this year, and Judy Smith, the crisis manager who represented Monica Lewinsky after her trysts with President Bill Clinton.
Paula Broadwell’s lawyer is the Washington-based Robert F. Muse, according to ABC News, a partner at Stein, Mitchell, Muse & Cipollone, which specializes in white-collar crime.
Another of the firm’s partners is Jacob A. Stein, who was counsel to Monica Lewinsky during Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings in 1998.
Jill Kelley, Florida socialite at the centre of the David Petraeus sex scandal, has spoken for the first time and said she is an “innocent victim”.
Jill Kelley said: “I’ve done nothing wrong. I am the victim here. But it still feels awful.”
She has been called “the other woman” in the affair leading to speculation she was romantically involved with the former CIA chief.
Jill Kelley tipped off FBI agents about the affair when she handed over a series of anonymous emails sent by Paula Broadwell warning her to stay away from David Petraeus in the summer.
The 37-year-old spoke with her brother, a lawyer, as her name first became linked to the resignation of David Petraeus.
David Khawan told the Washington Post his sister telephoned him on Sunday and told him to switch on the TV because her name was all over news broadcasts.
He said his sister told him she was totally innocent and was not the “other woman” in David Petraeus’s life.
David Khawan is quoted as saying his sister said: “I’ve done nothing wrong. I am the victim here. But it still feels awful.”
Friends of Jill Kelley, a vivacious Lebanese-born mother of three known for her love of expensive designer dresses, said that she is devoted to her family and scoffed at suggestions that she was romantically involved with David Petraeus.
“This other woman obviously read all the signs wrong,” said a friend who knows Jill Kelley from their children’s private school.
“Jill is very attractive and can be touchy-feely. That’s just the way she is and there is nothing else.”
Jill Kelley, Florida socialite at the centre of the David Petraeus sex scandal, has spoken for the first time and said she is an innocent victim
Jill Kelley, a well known figure on the social scene in her hometown of Tampa, Florida, has hired a crisis management firm and top lawyer since being linked to the scandal.
This has led to speculation that further damaging details could be revealed in the fall out from David Petraeus’s resignation.
Sources have revealed that the emails she received from Paula Broadwell were “kind of cat-fight stuff”.
Jill Kelley went to the FBI with the emails – and triggered the investigation that led to the downfall of David Petraeus and his shock resignation as CIA chief.
The source told The Daily Beast the emails were: “More like, <<Who do you think you are? … You parade around the base … You need to take it down a notch.>>”
The Wall Street Journal reported that in one of the emails Paula Broadwell asked Jill Kelley if her husband was aware of her actions.
Another accused Jill Kelley of touching David Petraeus provocatively under a table.
The source also said Jill Kelley would often accompany David Petraeus’s wife Holly on shopping trips to the International Mall in Tampa.
Jill Kelley, whose husband is a top cancer surgeon, has dodged questions from the media.
Before leaving her home she called police to the $1.3 million mansion to ask media to respect her privacy.
Jill Kelley left the home in a silver Mercedes with the registration plate “Honorary Consul” – a nod to her work as an unpaid liaison officer for the military headquarters at MacDill Airforce Base.
It was during David Petraeus’s two years in Tampa at the CENTCOM headquarters that he became friends with Jill Kelley and her husband Scott.
The friendship continued after the general left Tampa with the Kelley’s visiting the Petraeus’s home in Washington DC.
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.
An FBI agent was pulled off the investigation into David Petraeus’s illicit contact with Paula Broadwell when he reportedly became obsessed with Jill Kelley, the other woman involved in the probe, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The FBI found that the agent had sent shirtless photos of himself to Jill Kelley, the Tampa woman who reportedly received a half dozen emails from Paula Broadwell that warned her to stay away from David Petraeus. The emails were sent from anonymous accounts.
That same agent was a friend of Jill Kelley’s and he had started the FBI investigation into the emails – which eventually led to David Petraeus’s downfall – after Kelley came to him for help upon receiving the anonymous threats.
The FBI declined to identify the agent, who is now under an internal investigation by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
After Jill Kelley, a married mother of three, told the agent about the emails, he referred the matter to a cyber crimes unit.
Shortly thereafter, the agent was barred from the case over concerns that he “might have grown obsessed with the matter”, the Wall Street Journal reports.
An FBI agent was pulled off the investigation into David Petraeus’s illicit contact with Paula Broadwell when he reportedly became obsessed with Jill Kelley
Even after he was prohibited from involvement in the case, the agent decided to contact a member of Congress, Republican David Reichert, about the matter.
He complained that senior FBI officials were going to “sweep the matter under the rug”, the FBI learned.
Meanwhile, investigators had traced the harassing emails back to accounts used by Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old married mother of two from Charlotte, North Carolina. In one of the emails, Paula Broadwell accused Jill Kelley of touching “him” underneath a table and another email asked if Kelley’s husband was aware of her actions, according to the newspaper.
Jill Kelley, 37, is a volunteer who organizes social events for military families in the Tampa area. She often hosts the events at her million-dollar Bayshore Boulevard home, which is located only a couple miles from MacDill Air Force base, where David Petraeus was leader of the U.S. Central Command.
“The Kelley mansion became the place to be seen for coalition officers,” according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Jill Kelley’s husband, Dr. Scott Kelley, is a highly sought-after surgeon who specializes in a rare type of minimally invasive surgery to cure cancer of the esophagus.
Since the Kelleys have been in Tampa, one or both have been subjects of lawsuits nine times – including an $11,000 judgment against them that originated in Pennsylvania, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The emails which Paula Broadwell sent to supposed love rival Jill Kelley and which led to her affair with David Petraeus being exposed were “kind of cat-fight stuff”, it was claimed last night.
Paula Broadwell was apparently aggressive towards Jill Kelley, saying: “Who do you think you are?”
She also accused socialite Jill Kelley, a Petraeus family friend, of “parad[ing] around the base”, adding: “You need to take it down a notch.”
The revelation comes as a team of FBI agents has descended on paula Broadwell’s home and started removing boxes of household items.
It is unclear what investigators are doing at the house in Charlotte, North Carolina, and they have refused to comment on their latest probe into the writer.
Further questions about the FBI’s role in the scandal, which saw David Petraeus resign from the CIA last Friday, have been raised by the revelation of the notorious emails’ contents by the Daily Beast.
A source told the website the emails did not contain threats or references to the former general, but were instead vague expressions of hostility, taking aim at Jill Kelley’s role as a “social liaison” at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.
When Jill Kelley first reported the messages to a friend who works for the FBI, she did not regard them as a criminal matter, instead simply saying: “I don’t know who this person is and I don’t want to keep getting them.”
The emails which Paula Broadwell sent to supposed love rival Jill Kelley were kind of cat-fight stuff
And when investigators looked at the messages, many were unimpressed, according to the Beast‘s source – many simply concluded, “There’s no threat there.”
However, Jill Kelley’s friendship with an FBI agent apparently meant the bureau took the emails more seriously than they otherwise might have – and helped them uncover the months-long relationship between Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus.
They launched a wide-ranging investigation, interviewing both the CIA director and his former lover, but eventually concluding that no crime or national security breach had been committed.
David Petraeus offered his resignation on Thursday afternoon, and officially stepped down the next day.
It became clear within hours that Paula Broadwell, who met the general in Iraq when she was researching a dissertation which would eventually become a full-length biography, was the woman with whom he had cheated on Holly, his wife of 37 years.
And on Monday evening it appeared that the FBI had reopened their investigation, as at least six agents visited her home – where she is not currently staying – and removed several boxes.
General John R. Allen, a second top military official, was dragged in to the David Petraeus sex scandal early this morning after being accused of sending thousands of “inappropriate” emails to socialite Jill Kelley, who was 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, who succeeded David Petraeus in Afghanistan, was due to take over as NATO’s top commander, but his appointment has been suspended while his relationship with Jill Kelley is investigated.
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.
He 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, who is married, except to say that it was “potentially inappropriate”. Officials have not said whether any national security secrets were breached.
Adultery is classified as a crime in the military.
Jill Kelley has been in the news this week after it emerged that she was the target of harassing emails from Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old mother of two from Charlotte, North Carolina who was engaged in an affair with David Petraeus.
Paula Broadwell sent Jill Kelley a half dozen emails from anonymous accounts earlier this year warning her to stay away from Petraeus. Paula Broadwell perceived Jill Kelley as a threat to her relationship with David Petraeus, which began in the summer of 2011 and ended the following summer.
Jill Kelley notified a friend of hers who worked for the FBI of the emails, and he referred the case to a cyber crimes unit.
That agent was later banned from the FBI’s investigation into the source of the emails when officials discovered that he was sending shirtless photographs to Jill Kelley and seemed to become “obsessed” with the case, the Wall Street Journal reported.
General John R. Allen was dragged into the David Petraeus sex scandal early this morning after being accused of sending thousands of inappropriate emails to Jill Kelley
Jill Kelley is a volunteer who organizes social events for military families in the Tampa area. She often hosts the events at her million-dollar Bayshore Boulevard home, which is located only a couple miles from MacDill Air Force base, where Allen served from July 2008 to June 2011.
John R. Allen, a four-star Marine general, succeeded David Petraeus as the top American commander in Afghanistan in July 2011.
A senior official told the Associated Press that 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails and other documents from Allen’s communications with Jill Kelley between 2010 and 2012 are under review.
He would not say whether they involved sexual matters or whether they are thought to include unauthorized disclosures of classified information. He said he did not know whether David Petraeus is mentioned in the emails.
“General Allen disputes that he has engaged in any wrongdoing in this matter,” the official said. He said John Allen currently is in Washington.
The FBI’s decision to refer the Allen matter to the Pentagon rather than keep it itself, combined with Leon Panetta’s decision to allow John Allen to continue as Afghanistan commander without a suspension, suggested strongly that officials viewed whatever happened as a possible infraction of military rules rather than a violation of federal criminal law.
John Allen was Deputy Commander of Central Command, based in Tampa, prior to taking over in Afghanistan. He also is a veteran of the Iraq war.
Leon Panetta said Barack Obama was consulted and agreed that John Allen’s nomination to the NATO post should be put on hold.
John Allen was to testify at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. Leon Panetta said he asked committee leaders to delay that hearing.
Leon Panetta also said he wants the Senate Armed Services Committee to act promptly on Barack Obama’s nomination of General Joseph Dunford to succeed John Allen as commander in Afghanistan. That nomination was made several weeks ago. Joseph Dunford’s hearing is also scheduled for Thursday.
Friends of Jill Kelley, the Tampa housewife who exposed David Petraeus’ affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, have suggested her husband tipped off the FBI about the “threatening” emails his wife was receiving from the woman.
The emails telling Jill Kelley to “back off” sparked the investigation that uncovered David Petraeus’ affair with Paula Broadwell and led to the CIA boss’ dramatic resignation on Friday.
The friends’ claims come as Jill Kelley, who became friend with Petraeus after working alongside him as a liaison officer at MacDill Air Force Base, was seen strutting outside her Florida mansion.
Jill Kelley was dressed in an eye-catching canary yellow suit as she swooped past reporters swarming the $1.3 million home she shares with her husband and their three children.
She climbed into her Mercedes which carries a license plate reading “Honorary Consul” – a nod to her unpaid work with the forces, and a sign she’s not shy about making her high-profile contacts known.
Jill Kelley steps out as friends claim her husband tipped FBI about Paula Broadwell emails
“Jill’s husband Scott is very protective of her, and I’m sure he was the one who said go to the FBI,” said a close friend about the scandal.
“They are a very close couple who are devoted to each other and their children. If his family was being threatened he would not hesitate to go to the police.
“Jill is a very strong woman, but I guess she must have known who these emails were coming from. She would have seen this Paula and seen how close she was to the General. She is very worldly wise and would have guessed.”
Jill Kelley has insisted there was no reason for jealousy as she is nothing more than friends with David Petraeus, whom she met when he was serving at the Tampa base between 2008 and 2010.
She worked as an unpaid, unofficial social liaison for U.S. Central Command, which David Petraeus led, and was reportedly a fixture at parties, along with her husband Scott, a prominent cancer surgeon.
Members of US Congress said Sunday they want to know more details about the FBI investigation that revealed an extramarital affair between ex-CIA Director David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell, questioning when the retired general popped up in the FBI inquiry, whether national security was compromised and why they weren’t told sooner.
“We received no advanced notice. It was like a lightning bolt,” said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The FBI was investigating harassing emails sent by David Petraeus biographer and girlfriend Paula Broadwell to a second woman. That probe of Paula Broadwell’s emails revealed the affair between her and David Petraeus. The FBI contacted David Petraeus and other intelligence officials, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asked Petraeus to resign.
A senior U.S. military official identified the second woman as Jill Kelley, 37, who lives in Tampa, Florida, and serves as a social liaison to the military’s Joint Special Operations Command. The U.S. official said the coalition countries represented at the military’s Central Command in Tampa gave Jill Kelley an appreciation certificate on which she was referred to as an “honorary ambassador” to the coalition, but she has no official status.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the case publicly, said Jill Kelley is known to drop the “honorary” part and refer to herself as an ambassador.
The military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation, said Jill Kelley had received harassing emails from Paula Broadwell, which led the FBI to examine her email account and eventually discover her relationship with David Petraeus.
A former associate of David Petraeus confirmed the target of the emails was Jill Kelley, but said there was no affair between the two, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the retired general’s private life. The associate, who has been in touch with David Petraeus since his resignation, says Jill Kelley and her husband were longtime friends of Petraeus and wife, Holly.
David Petraeus resigned while lawmakers still had questions about the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate and CIA base in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Lawmakers said it’s possible that David Petraeus will still be asked to appear on Capitol Hill to testify about what he knew about the U.S. response to that incident.
David Petraeus resigned while lawmakers still had questions about the September 11 attack on the US Consulate and CIA base in Benghazi
Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the circumstances of the FBI probe smacked of a cover-up by the White House.
“It seems this [the investigation] has been going on for several months and, yet, now it appears that they’re saying that the FBI didn’t realize until Election Day that General Petraeus was involved. It just doesn’t add up,” said Peter King, R-N.Y.
David Petraeus, 60, quit Friday after acknowledging an extramarital relationship. He has been married 38 years to Holly Petraeus, with whom he has two adult children, including a son who led an infantry platoon in Afghanistan as an Army lieutenant.
Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and an Army Reserve officer, is married with two young sons.
David Petraeus’ affair with Paula Broadwell will be the subject of meetings Wednesday involving congressional intelligence committee leaders, FBI deputy director Sean Joyce and CIA deputy director Michael Morell.
David Petraeus had been scheduled to appear before the committees on Thursday to testify on what the CIA knew and what the agency told the White House before, during and after the attack in Benghazi. Republicans and some Democrats have questioned the U.S. response and protection of diplomats stationed overseas.
Michael Morell was expected to testify in place of David Petraeus, and lawmakers said he should have the answers to their questions. But Dianne Feinstein and others didn’t rule out the possibility that Congress will compel David Petraeus to testify about Benghazi at a later date, even though he’s relinquished his job.
“I don’t see how in the world you can find out what happened in Benghazi before, during and after the attack if General Petraeus doesn’t testify,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wants to create a joint congressional committee to investigate the U.S. response to that attack.
Dianne Feinstein said she first learned of David Petraeus’ affair from the media late last week, and confirmed it in a phone call Friday with Petraeus. She eventually was briefed by the FBI and said so far there was no indication that national security was breached.
Still, Dianne Feinstein called the news “a heartbreak” for her personally and U.S. intelligence operations, and said she didn’t understand why the FBI didn’t give her a heads up as soon as David Petraeus’ name emerged in the investigation.
“We are very much able to keep things in a classified setting,” she said.
“At least if you know, you can begin to think and then to plan. And, of course, we have not had that opportunity.”
Jason Clapper was told by the Justice Department of the Petraeus investigation at about 5 p.m. on Election Day, and then called David Petraeus and urged him to resign, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
FBI officials say the committees weren’t informed until Friday, one official said, because the matter started as a criminal investigation into harassing emails sent by Paula Broadwell to another woman.
Concerned that the emails he exchanged with Paula Broadwell raised the possibility of a security breach, the FBI brought the matter up with David Petraeus directly, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.
David Petraeus decided to quit, though he was breaking no laws by having an affair, officials said.
Dianne Feinstein said she has not been told the precise relationship between David Petraeus and the woman who reported the harassing emails to the FBI.
Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, called David Petraeus “a great leader” who did right by stepping down and still deserves the nation’s gratitude. He also didn’t rule out calling David Petraeus to testify on Benghazi at some point.
“He’s trying to put his life back together right now and that’s what he needs to focus on,” Saxby Chambliss said.
The investigation that brought the downfall of General David Petraeus, one of America’s most respected war heroes, began with Jill Kelley, a suburban housewife in Tampa, Florida.
Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old mother of three, became close with the former CIA director when he was serving at nearby MacDill Air Force Base between 2008 and 2010.
Jill Kelley served as an unpaid, unofficial social liaison for U.S. Central Command, which David Petraeus led at the time, and was reportedly a fixture at parties among the top brass – along with her husband Scott, a prominent cancer surgeon.
David Petraeus biographer Paula Broadwell, revealed to be his mistress, sent harassing emails to Jill Kelley.
Jill Kelley responded by calling the FBI, which stumbled on Paula Broadwell’s affair when agents examined her email account and found steamy exchanges with David Petraeus.
Scott and Jill Kelley lives in a $1.4million brick mansion in an upscale neighborhood of Tampa – and they love to entertain.
Jill Kelley and her children, age six, seven and nine, packed their bags and left the home in one of Tampa’s most exclusive neighborhoods as national news crews lined up outside her door.
She boasted about serving dinner to David Petraeus and his wife Holly in 2007.
The general and his wife, Holly Petraeus, were both pictures to the Kelleys and Jill Kelley’s twin sister Natalie Khawam.
On Sunday, as news of her involved in the scandal made her a national figure, Jill Kelley did not postpone a lavish garden party that was thrown for her daughter’s birthday.
The gathering featured a professional deejay, an inflatable bouncy castle and catered meals and more than 100 adult guests.
Neighbors said Jill Kelley was a “devoted mother” who enjoyed entertaining at her 5,000 sq ft home.
One neighbor said: “Jill is very proud of her work with the military and she does all she can for them.
“She is a great morale booster and uses her social position as the wife of a prominent surgeon to make sure she makes a difference.”
Scott and Jill Kelley lives in a $1.4million brick mansion in an upscale neighborhood of Tampa and they love to entertain
Each year Jill Kelley and her husband Scott host a party on their extensive manicured front lawn to celebrate the Gasparilla Festival in Tampa.
In 2010, General David Petraeus and his wife Holly attended the pirate themed festival staged at Jill Kelley’s home.
David Petraeus arrived with a 28 motorcycle escort and mingled with more than 200 guests who dined on crab cakes and lamb chops.
At this year’s Gasparilla festival, where pirate themed floats are driven through Tampa, the Kelley’s hosted military officers from 60 nations to a coalition appreciation party.
Tight security surrounded the Kelley’s home during the event.
One neighbors complained that it resulted in the street running alongside the Kelley’s red and white painted mansion being closed off to traffic for the day.
“You soon know when Jill is having a party It’s like having the president come to town as everything shuts down. There is security everywhere and you cannot move,” said one neighbor.
Jill Kelley, who said she has known David Petraeus and his wife Holly for five years, has visited them in Washington DC.
She is also reported to have been invited to a breakfast at the White House.
In recognition of her work with officials at CENTCOM, Jill Kelley was recently named as a honorary consulate general to South Korea.
Jill Kelley is said to regard David Petraeus as being like a grandfather to her children, aged nine, seven and six.
Jill Kelley and her friends and family maintain her relationship to the four-star general was never anything more than friendship.
“We and our family have been friends with General Petraeus and his family for over five years. We respect his and his family’s privacy and want the same for us and our three children,” the Kelleys said in statement on Sunday.
Military sources say that Jill Kelley was frequently seen in David Petraeus’ company at social events held at Central Command headquarters.
Central Command oversees U.S. military operations across the Middle East – including in Iraq and Afghanistan. David Petraeus was promoted lead the command, based in Tampa, in October 2008 after successfully engineering and executing the surge strategy.
While in Tampa, David Petraeus worked to reorganize Central Command from its original Cold War era footing to focusing more on counterinsurgency.
David Petraeus left Tampa in June 2010 when President Barack Obama tapped him to lead a turnaround of the war in Afghanistan.
Jill and Scott Kelley have lived in the Bayshore Boulevard mansion since 2006.
Dr. Scott Kelley is head of Esophageal Oncology and Surgery at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer and Research Institute in Tampa.
He pioneered minimally-invasive, hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery of the esophagus and other gastrointestinal malignancies.
Jill Kelley, who drives a black Lincoln Escalade SUV, has a twin sister Natalie Khawam, who is a Tampa lawyer who represents corporate whistle blowers.
The sisters, who are from Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, took part in Food Fight, a culinary showdown for the Food Network channel in 2003.
Their Lebanese-American parents still reportedly own a restaurant in Philadelphia.
Paula Broadwell, the woman at the center of the David Petraeus cheating scandal, was caught gazing at the former CIA director as he entered a congressional hearing with his wife Holly in a photograph from 2011.
General David Petraeus resigned in disgrace from his post at the CIA last week after it was revealed that he had an affair with Paula Broadwell, who is shown smiling and looking up at him in the image.
David Petraeus’s now humiliated wife of 38 years, Holly, is also shown in the photograph, walking slightly ahead of her husband.
The image was taken during a June 23, 2011 Senate Select Intelligence Committee hearing on David Petraeus’s nomination to be director of the CIA.
The affair was discovered when Paula Broadwell, 40, sent a spate of threatening emails to 37-year-old Jill Kelley, who works for the State Department, warning her to “stay away” from David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley notified the FBI of the emails and their investigation revealed a number of sexually explicit emails between Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus, one of which referenced “sex under a desk”.
Paula Broadwell was caught gazing at David Petraeus as he entered a congressional hearing with his wife Holly in a photograph from 2011
Paula Broadwell often referred to the 60-year-old general as “peaches” in the emails, which was David Petraeus’s nickname in high school that stuck with him through his cadet years at West Point.
The nickname was a reflection of his wholesome character, according to a biography on him written in Vanity Fair.
At the time of the photograph it is thought that the affair between David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell was still continuing despite both being married with children.
David Petraeus issued a statement acknowledging the affair on Friday after President Barack Obama accepted his resignation, which was announced by the CIA soon after.
Jill Kelley is the woman who complained to the FBI about harassing emails from Paula Broadwell, the mistress of former CIA Director David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley, 37, of Tampa, Florida, is a State Department military liaison officer who appears to have a longstanding friendship with David Petraeus, who quit as CIA director in disgrace last week.
She lives in a $1.2million house with her husband Scott Kelley, a surgeon, and their three children.
Jill Kelley told FBI agents that Paula Broadwell, the 40-year-old biographer who has been identified as the ex-CIA boss’ mistress, sent her harassing emails telling her to “back off” David Petraeus.
An online picture album posted by the family talks about meeting David Petraeus at the family’s home.
Jill Kelley’s twin sister Natalie Khawam, David Petraeus, Scott and Jill Kelley, and Holly Petraeus watch the Gasparilla parade from the Kelley family’s front lawn in 2010
Jill Kelley works in the Joint Special Operations Command, a section of the U.S. Armed Forces that deals mostly with counter-terrorism.
The Joint Special Ops Command was directly involved in the mission that took out Osama bin Laden and the drone strike that killed radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
Details of the affair between David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell reportedly came to light during a FBI probe of the emails that she allegedly sent to Jill Kelley.
The new revelation raises the possibility that Paula Broadwell was growing increasingly jealous of a government employee whose job it was to keep in contact with David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley, who feared for her safety, contacted the FBI.
Jill Kelley is the woman who complained to the FBI about harassing emails from Paula Broadwell, the mistress of General David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley, 37, of Tampa, Florida, is a State Department military liaison officer who appears to have a longstanding friendship with Petraeus, who quit as CIA director in disgrace last week.
He lives with her husband Scott Kelley, a surgeon, and their three children.
An online picture album posted by the family talks about meeting David Petraeus at the couple’s home.
Jill Kelley works in the Joint Special Operations Command, a section of the U.S. Armed Forces that deals mostly with counter-terrorism.
The Joint Special Ops Command was directly involved in the mission that took out Osama bin Laden and the drone strike that killed radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
Details of the affair between David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell reportedly came to light during a FBI probe of the emails that she allegedly sent to Jill Kelley.
The new revelation raises the possibility that Paula Broadwell was growing increasingly jealous of a government employee whose job it was to keep in contact with David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley is the woman who complained to the FBI about harassing emails from Paula Broadwell, the mistress of General David Petraeus
Jill Kelley, a mother of three who feared for her safety, contacted the FBI.
A government official told the New York Post that the emails contained such language as: “I know what you did”, “back off” and “stay away from my guy”.
The official added: “[Paula Broadwell] clearly thought something was going on and thought she was in a <<lovers triangle>>.”
A person who knows both Jill Kelley and David Petraeus confirmed their friendship and said she saw him often.
David Petraeus broke off the steamy affair with Paula Broadwell before it was exposed by the FBI probe, according to friends of the retired general.
David Petraeus quit his post as CIA director in disgrace on Friday while offering an apology over the affair, allegedly with his biographer, Paula Broadwell – who allegedly sent a threatening email to another woman whom she felt was getting to close to him.
His apology came as reports show that the affair blew up in David Petraeus’ face after Paula Broadwell allegedly sent e-mails threatening Jill Kelley whom she accused of getting too close to him.
David Petraeus told friends that he had begun the affair with Paula Broadwell shortly after he had left the Army to begin his work with the CIA, according to ABC News.
Those close to Paula Broadwell are casting doubt over what she has been accused of.
David Bixler, a wounded soldier who met Paula Broadwell through a charity in 2010, told ABC: “I have some serious questions about who is connecting these dots… Paula Broadwell is not the type… she isn’t.”
Ed Williams, a neighbor who lives two houses down from the Broadwell family in Charlotte, North Carolina, neighborhood, told Reuters: “Everyone is surprised and shocked.”
Earlier in the week, Ed Williams, a retired editor, saw Paula Broadwell with her two children when she was voting in last week’s U.S. presidential election.
He told Reuters that Paula Broadwell appeared chatty and cheerful. Neighbors were working on putting together a belated party to celebrate the release of her book.
“She gave no indication all this was going on,” Ed Williams said.
Paula Broadwell is married to Dr. Scott Broadwell and has two young sons.
She had planned to celebrate her 40th birthday in Washington this weekend, with many reporters invited. Her husband Scott emailed guests to cancel the party.
It is also claimed that Paula Broadwell used David Petraeus’ own Gmail account to send the emails, and when the FBI began to investigate an obvious national security issue instead uncovered explicit messages between the two sent from the decorated war hero’s own account – indicating an affair.
Three senior law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case told the Washington Post that when David Petraeus’ name was raised in connection with the threatening emails, the FBI thought that security had been breached.
CIA officers long had expressed concern about Paula Broadwell’s unprecedented access to the director.
She frequently visited the spy agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to meet David Petraeus in his office, accompanied him on morning runs around the CIA grounds and often attended public functions as his guest, according to two ex-intelligence officials.
Investigating the threatening messages, FBI agents uncovered evidence that he and 40-year-old Paula Broadwell were involved in an extramarital affair.
FBI investigators first interviewed David Petraeus about what they had found two weeks ago and informed him that no criminal charges would be brought and no-one is thought to have discussed the possibility of his resignation.
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