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Jill Kelley, the Florida housewife at the centre of the David Petraeus scandal, was given access to the White House on three separate occasion thanks to a lawyer friend who works for the administration, according to recent reports.
Jill Kelley and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, had two “courtesy” meals in the mess at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as guests of a mid-level aide in September and October, a White House official said.
The socialite and her family also received a tour of the presidential residence on the weekend before the November 6 election.
Jill Kelley met the aid, an attorney, through her work with MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, where she also rubbed shoulders with the military’s top brass, including General David Petraeus.
David Petraeus’ biographer-turned-mistress Paula Broadwell also reportedly visited the White House before her illicit affair with Petraeus was made public following an FBI investigation launched with Kelley’s help.
Neither woman met with President Barack Obama during their visits, a White House official said.
Paula Broadwell, who was writing a book about David Petraeus and eventually became his paramour, attended meetings in June 2009 and June 2011 on Afghanistan-Pakistan policy in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is located in the White House complex, the official said.
The White House visits by Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelley illustrate the wide-ranging access both women enjoyed because of their ties with David Petraeus, General John Allen and others in the close-knit military community.
Jill Kelley and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, had two courtesy meals at the White House as guests of a mid-level aide in September and October
The White House official discussed their visits on condition of anonymity because the visitors logs being cited have yet to be made public.
Tampa Bay Times reported that on November 4, two days before the presidential election and less than a week before David Petraeus tendered his resignation after acknowledging his affair with Paula Broadwell, Jill Kelley, her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, their children and her husband, Dr. Scott Kelley, went on a tour of the White House.
On October 24, Jill Kelley and Natalie Khawam had lunch in the White House with a staffer, who also had breakfast with the Kelleys on September 28.
Jill Kelley was an Honorary Consul to South Korea, which is why she said she visited the White House in September.
The attorney who ushered Jill Kelley and her family through the doors of America’s most famous residence has not been identified by the White House, saying that his name will be made public once the visitor logs are released.
However, an official said the aid had gotten to know Jill Kelley through connections to MacDill.
The man worked as a civilian lawyer in Afghanistan and got to form relationships with military personnel, who invited him to MacDill where he met Jill Kelley. He now works as a lawyer in the White House.
Natalie Khawam and her twin sister Jill Kelley, the Florida housewife whose complaint over threatening emails revealed David Petraeus’ affair, have visited the White House three times in the past three months, it has emerged today.
In by far the most astonishing example of her determination to reach the top, Jill Kelley and Natalie Khawam were invited to two “courtesy” meals in the Executive Mansion mess hall as a guest of a White House aide, an Obama administration official has revealed.
Jill Kelley met the mid-level aide through her work with MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, where she also rubbed shoulders with the military’s top brass, including General David Petraeus.
On one further occasion, she received a White House tour with her family, the official added.
This latest revelation shows just how far Jill Kelley soared from her humble beginnings as the daughter of Lebanese immigrants in Pennsylvania to the host of lavish military parties at her Florida mansion.
Natalie Khawam and her twin sister Jill Kelley have visited the White House three times in the past three months
It also suggests that Jill Kelley was telling the truth in an email she wrote to a reporter at the Tampa Bay Times on September 28, in which she boasted of visiting the White House.
“Btw I was made the [honorary] Ambassador to US Central Command’s Coalition!” Jill Kelley wrote.
“In addition to that, I was just recently appointed to be the Honorary Consulate General to South Korea! I’m in DC today – just left from breakfast at the White House…. I really hope to see you soon!”
Further examples also emerged today of how the married mother of three, who is reportedly steeped in debt, has attempted to exploit her connections as she finds herself at the centre of the military scandal.
Staring at Jill Kelley’s $1.3 million mansion from the street, it would be hard not to think that this was a person who had made it in life.
The vast 1923 brick house is in one of the most fashionable districts of Tampa, Florida, and is over the bay from one of New York Yankee Derek Jeter’s homes.
The lawns are perfectly manicured, it has six bedrooms and four bathrooms for the hundreds of military guests who used to attend parties there.
A closer look, however, and you notice that the paint is peeling on the outside and wooden chairs at all rather too well worn.
The owners have been sued for $4.1 million of debts and are, as we found out this week, at the centre of the biggest scandal to rock the military in living memory.
If ever there was a perfect metaphor for the life that Jill Kelley has been living, then her house would be it. A lot of front, in other words, and a hollow, brazen ambition on the inside.
Until this week the only view we had to Jill Kelley’s life was that of the outsider, but now we all know what was going on behind closed doors it raise more questions than it answers.
General John Allen, the commander of US troops in Afghanistan, sent her up to 30,000 emails including some which were reportedly of an inappropriate nature.
Through her connections, Jill Kelley grew so close to General David Petraeus that she was invited to his daughter Anne’s wedding.
Even the FBI agent who investigated her claims that David Petraeus’ mistress Paula Broadwell had sent her threatening emails was so enraptured that he sent her a picture of himself with no shirt on.
So beloved was the “social liason” to the military that all Jill Kelley had to do was give the guard at MacDill Air Force Base a wave of her perfectly manicured hand and she would be let in to fraternize as she pleased.
But no longer – with her access revoked and the scandal in full public view, many are asking the questions they should have asked from the beginning.
What exactly it is about this former mathlete that powerful men cannot resist?
And what is it about her that takes great pleasure in seeing a man in uniform go weak at the knees when she walks into the room?
A look into Jill Kelley’s background reveals that she could not have been more different than how she has ended up.
Jill Kelley and twin sister Natalie Khawam waited until their teens at the earliest before embarking on their transition to a more shameless version of the Kardashians. (Which takes some doing, considering that Kim Kardashian became famous for starring in her very own sex tape.)
Jill Kelley’s parents Marcelle and John Khawam moved to Philadelphia from Lebanon in the 1970s, presumably to give a better life to their children, whom they raised as Catholic.
They opened a Middle Eastern restaurant in Voorhees, New Jersey before moving to Pennsylvania where both girls attended Lower Moreland High School in Huntingdon Valley.
Classmates remembered the girls as “The Twins” because they spent so much time together, never went to any parties and did not appear to have even gone to the prom.
But in a sign of things to come, at 18, Jill Kelley, then Jill Khawam, responded to taunts about her big nose: “You’ll be in awe of me after I have a nosejob.” Jill Kelley, now a mother of three, appears to have met her future husband Scott, a cancer surgeon, in Pennsylvania and a decade ago they moved to Tampa, taking in Natalie Khawam as a permanent guest in their new home, which they bought in 2004.
Jill Kelley and her twin sister Natalie Khawam pictured with David Petraeus and his wife
It was there that Jill Kelley set about turning herself into the to go-to girl for any party that the military put on.
First she had to look the part – out went the t-shirts, jeans and cheap pearls of her high school days.
In came designer dresses, high heels, expensive handbags and a new sleek hairstyle instead of her voluminous youthful look.
In also came the guests at her regular parties – David Petraeus, General John Allen, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is a close ally of Mitt Romney.
There are even claims her sister, Natalie Khawam, dated the former Florida governor, Charlie Crist.
It is likely senior FBI officials were also invited to sup cocktails on the lawn and meet the mayor and other local dignitaries.
A band would sometimes play amid a Cosmopolitan atmosphere that included high ranking French and Italian military officers.
So good a host was Jill Kelley that she became “honorary consul” to South Korea, a title with no responsibilities but official enough for her to put on her number plate.
Such delusions of grandeur were apparent when she phoned police in recent days asking for “diplomatic protection” because she was annoyed at journalists knocking on her door.
Meanwhile we now know that Jill Kelley’s world was falling apart.
She has been sued by Central Bank for $1.9 million for failing to keep up with mortgage payments on a home she bought after starting a property company.
Regions Bank sued her and her husband, Scott Kelley, for $1.8 million over the mortgage on another home and filed another claim for $453,000.
Bank of America followed suit for $25,000 of unpaid credit card charges.
Then came the Petraeus sex scandal, which makes her financial problems look like a drop in the ocean.
And Natalie Khawam has had it no easier, even appealing to David Petraeus and General John Allen to write letters to a judge on her behalf as she fought a doomed battled to win back custody of her four-year-old son.
A year ago, the judge had 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 Natalie Khawam 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.
The New York Post claimed Grayson Wolfe won sole custody of the boy after the judge found out Natalie Khawam, a lawyer, repeatedly lied under oath and filed false domestic-violence and child-abuse claims against her husband.
Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite who sparked the FBI’s discovery of the affair between David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell, scooped an invite to his daughter Anne’s high security wedding last month.
Jill Kelley – whose own alleged relationship with General John Allen has led to his nomination to lead American troops in Europe being put on hold – was invited to the wedding of Anne Petraeus and Matt Mauney, alongside her twin sister Natalie Khawam.
Pictures taken at the nuptials clearly show Jill Kelley, 37, standing just behind the elegant bride as she claps along to a band and mingles with guests said to have included Vice President Joe Biden – and illustrate just how far the ambitious brunette had infiltrated the high-powered political world.
Anne Petraeus has posted many pictures of her big day on her website fANNEtasticfood.com and in a post called We’re Married! the 30-year-old blonde, who is a trained dietician, gave a sneak peak at her reception – with Jill Kelley standing behind her in one of the photos.
Dressed in a smart black gown, Jill Kelley – who was the unpaid “social liaison” at MacDill Air Force base in Tampa – looked to be having a fine time at the wedding, held at Rosemont Manor in Berryville, Virginia, on October 13.
Frances Townsend, former Homeland and Counterterrorism security advisor to President George Bush, today even tweeted: “Sources tell me Jill Kelley & twin both attended the Petraeus daughter wedding last month whr 1 guest refrd 2 them as the Kardashian twins!”
Jill Kelley was invited to the wedding of Anne Petraeus and Matt Mauney, alongside her twin sister Natalie Khawam
The wedding was said to be a high security affair as pr service PR Log noted three days after the wedding that: “Berryville was abuzz this past weekend as residents noticed tightened security around Historic Rosemont Manor, the former estate of Virginia Governor and US Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr.
“Rumors began circulating around town that Vice-President Joe Biden was at Rosemont. Others thought Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta was visiting.
“Berryville Police and Clarke County Sheriff Department cruisers and several unmarked SUV’s were parked within the perimeter of the Rosemont estate, some noticeable from the road.”
General Manager Bill North acknowledged that while there was heightened security at Rosemont, all Rosemont clients are offered a high level of privacy and security, saying: “Obviously, this wedding has special significance because of General Petraeus’s presence, but there will be other weddings in the future that will have enhanced security.”
Jill Kelley made headlines this week after it emerged that she was the target of harassing emails from Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old mother of two who was engaged in a months-long affair with David Petraeus.
She has called police four times over the past two days to complain about reporters outside her home. In one call, Jill Kelley said she was an honorary consul general, adding: “I don’t know if you want to get diplomatic protection.”
Jill Kelley regularly kept in touch with then-General 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.
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.
The FBI investigated her claims and traced the emails to an account set up by Paula Broadwell. As they looked into the account, they found she had exchanged intimate emails with a private Gmail account.
Further investigation revealed it belonged to David Petraeus, who was using an alias.
Jill Kelley made headlines this week after it emerged that she was the target of harassing emails from Paula Broadwell
Jill Kelley, 37, is a volunteer who organizes social events for military families in the Tampa area.
Her 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.
Jill Kelley was a medical student at one point, but put her studies on hold to have a baby, according to 2003 story in the St. Petersburg Times.
She often hosts the events at her million-dollar home located only a couple of miles from MacDill Air Force base, where Allen served from July 2008 to June 2011.
Jill Kelley’s twin sister Natalie Khawam also makes the most of the parties, becoming close with major players, including both David Petraeus and John Allen, who wrote letters on her behalf as she battled her ex-husband for custody of her son, ABC reported.
A senior official told the Associated Press that 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails and other documents from John Allen’s communications with Jill Kelley between 2010 and 2012 are under review.
A friend of the couple said Scott Kelley would not have know about the vast number of emails being exchanged by his wife and General John Allen.
“Knowing Scott, there is no way he would have approved of Jill sending so many emails to another man,” said the friend.
“What husband would be happy to see his wife sending so many different messages to another man, even if he is overseas and serving his country?”
Another friend, who has known Jill Kelley for almost a decade, added: “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.
“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, David Khawam 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.”
He 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.
Since she was named as the “other other” woman in the David Petraeus affair, the spotlight has shone on Jill Kelley and her identical twin sister Natalie Khawam.
Jill Kelley and Natalie Khawam have pushed themselves to the point of bankruptcy trying to keep up with the lifestyles of the rich and famous in the Sunshine State with both currently millions of dollars in debt.
Jill Kelley, the woman whose complaint to the FBI over Paula Broadwell’s threatening emails is currently fighting lawsuits worth up to $4 million against banks in Florida.
While her sister Natalie Khawam declared herself bankrupt earlier this year, owing $3.6 million, court filings show.
The twins are well known among the elite political circles of Florida and Natalie Khawam is known to have once dated Charlie Crist, the former Republican governor of Florida from 2003 to 2007.
Indeed, the sister’s GOP links extend all the way to defeated presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whose close ally and Florida Attorney General has attended a function at Jill Kelley’s home.
The two social climbing sisters are even believed to have attended party to bid farewell to the former British ambassador to the U.S. Sir Nigel Sheinweld.
Jill Kelley, who is a married mother of three is renowned for her no-expense spared parties for top military brass who are stationed at the nearby U.S. Central Command.
At one such event at her $1.2 million dollar Tampa mansion she was pictured with General David Petraeus, who arrived in a 28-man police motorcycle escort.
At these parties guests were treated copious amounts of champagne and were even entertained by string quartets while cigars were handed out.
However, keeping up appearances has come at a cost for the social climbing sisters.
Twin sisters Jill Kelley and Natalie Khawam pose with David Petraeus’ wife, Holly, and daughter, Anne
Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, 37, and her cancer surgeon husband Scott owe millions to banks after the collapse of their real estate holdings in 2010.
The Kelley’s are currently the targets of at least four indebtedness lawsuits and two foreclosures in Hillsborough County, according to court records.
Central Bank have a suit against the Kelleys and Kelly Land Holdings, centered on a three-story office building downtown Tampa.
Court records show they owed the bank nearly $2.2 million, including attorney fees. In 2011, a judge ordered the property to be put up for sale.
Regions Bank, meanwhile, is trying to foreclose on the couple’s historic $1.3million waterfront house, claiming they defaulted on a $271,000-credit line with their five bedroom house as collateral, according to Gossip Extra.
It is currently worth $840,000 and though it is one of the most spectacular on Bayshore Boulevard from the outside, the 1923 built home is in need of repair.
Paintwork on the home is peeling and behind the home the driveway leading to a triple garage is cracked and covered with weeds.
The front lawn, where Jill Kelley would host catered parties attended by the military, remains immaculate but out of sight in an alleyway running at the rear of the property rubbish is piled high against a wall.
“There are obviously financial issues,” said one associate of the Kelley’s.
“Scott goes to work and works his ass off, and Jill takes care of the social stuff, and gets them into the society pages. They are nice people, and I feel sorry for them.”
The friendship between the twins and generals John Allen and David Petraeus has extended to letters supporting Natalie Khawam’s case to overturn a ruling denying her custody of her four-year-old son in Washington earlier this year.
Supplying the court a letter confirming that he knew Natalie Khawam well and had even had her over for Christmas dinner, General David Petraeus testified that she had “a very loving relationship – a mother working hard to provide her son enjoyable, educational and developmental experiences”.
General John Allen made his own intervention two days later by writing on headed notepaper that “she clearly loves” her son.
Going on to say that: “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.”
In April of this year, Natalie Khawam filed for bankruptcy on more than $3 million in taxes, property debts and loans.
Natalie Khawam is being sued in Florida by her former boss Barry Cohen, who says that she “fraudulently omitted Rolex watches, sable mink furs and a diamond ring” from her bankruptcy filing.
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.”
