E-Mails From Biographer to a Third Party Led to Petraeus

The F.B.I. investigation that led to the resignation of David H. Petraeus as C.I.A. director on Friday began with a complaint several months ago about “harassing” e-mails sent by Paula Broadwell, Mr. Petraeus’s biographer, to an unidentified third person, a government official briefed on the case said Saturday....

The person who complained about harassing messages from Ms. Broadwell, according to the official, was not a family member or a government official. One Congressional official who was briefed on the matter on Friday said senior intelligence officials had explained that the F.B.I. investigation “started with two women.”

...A senior intelligence official said Saturday that Mr. Clapper had learned of Mr. Petraeus’s situation only when the F.B.I. notified him about 5 p.m. on Tuesday. That night and the next day, the official said, the two men discussed the situation, and Mr. Clapper told Mr. Petraeus “that he thought the right thing to do would be to resign,” the intelligence official said.

I don’t think it had to do with Afghanistan. I don’t recall exactly when Petraeus ceased to be in charge there, but one of the horrible things that nobody talks about is that US troop deaths under Obama were 2.5 times the entire level of troop deaths in the preceeding 8 Bush years, including when Petraeus was in charge.

And almost all of the Obama deaths were not in military actions, but resulted from attacks by native forces that the commanders had been told they had to include and had to trust. And I think Petraeus approved this.

As I said, Petraeus is a basic military man and does whatever he is told to do by whoever is in charge at that moment, whether he likes it or not. But he must no longer be of any use to Obama.

Thanks.

This story makes no sense. These basic “facts” can’t all be true.

FOX,NYT,WaPo, Newsmax

FOX:

As of today, Fox is still reporting that “FBI discovered that Broadwell appeared to have access to Gen Petreaus’ personal email account, so FBI agents started monitoring Petraeus’ email, though he was not under investigation.”

NYT:

The F.B.I. investigation...began with a complaint several months ago about “harassing” e-mails sent by Paula Broadwell, Mr. Petraeus’s biographer, to an unidentified third person.

When F.B.I. agents following up on the complaint began to examine Ms. Broadwell’s e-mails, they discovered exchanges between her and Mr. Petraeus that revealed that they were having an affair,

A senior intelligence official said Saturday that Mr. Clapper had learned of Mr. Petraeus’s situation only when the F.B.I. notified him about 5 p.m. on Tuesday [election night].

WAPO:

The collapse of the dazzling career of CIA Director David H. Petraeus was triggered when a woman with whom he was having an affair sent threatening e-mails to another woman close to him...The recipient of the e-mails was so frightened that she went to the FBI for protection and help tracking down the sender....The law enforcement officials said the e-mails indicated that Broadwell perceived the other woman as a threat to her relationship with Petraeus.

Petraeus allegations became a secret election-night drama for the Obama administration. That evening, the Justice Department informed the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., that their investigation had unearthed compromising information about the CIA director, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official.

NEWSMAX:

However, an FBI source says the investigation began when American intelligence mistook an email Petraeus had sent to his girlfriend as a reference to corruption. Petraeus was commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan from July 4, 2010 until July 18, 2011.

The investigation began last spring, but the FBI then pored over his emails when he was stationed in Afghanistan.

At some point after Petraeus was sworn in as CIA director on Sept. 6, 2011, the woman broke up with him. However, Petraeus continued to pursue her, sending her thousands of emails over the last several months, raising even more questions about his judgment.
~~~~~~~~~~~

Rep Peter King asking, “Why was the F.B.I. investigating the C.I.A. and this was involving a compromised computer of the director of the C.I.A., nobody told the president or the White House?”

You make an interesting point. Let me add:

— FBI + (I presume) non-consensual email collection = FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) investigation (ie electronic monitoring)

— Per NYT article, “The person who complained about harassing messages from Ms. Broadwell, according to the official, was not a family member or a government official.” Who is the person that is neither a gov official nor a family member of presumably a gov official so important that could trigger an FBI investigation; an intelligence source perhaps.

— Is Ms. Broadwell an accredited journalist? If she is, she either gave consent to have her email looked at by the FBI or they did it surreptitiously. If the later and she is an accredited journalist then this required high up approval per EO 12333 and all US Gov Departments’ derivative rules under the EO.

I have many other questions yet like Benghazi I do think they will go answered.

Nothing to see here; move along.

Regards.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.