Posted on 04/23/2015 1:27:08 PM PDT by xzins
Former CIA Director David Petraeus, whose career was destroyed by an extramarital affair with his biographer, was sentenced Thursday to two years' probation and fined $100,000 for giving her classified material while she was working on the book.
The sentencing came two months after he agreed to plead guilty to a federal misdemeanor count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material.
The plea agreement carried a possible sentence of up to a year in prison. In court papers, prosecutors recommended two years' probation and a $40,000 fine. But Judge David Kessler increased the fine to "reflect seriousness of the offense." He said Petraeus committed a "grave and uncharacteristic error in judgment." Appearing calm and wearing a business suit, Petraeus made a brief statement before he was sentenced, apologizing "for the pain my actions have caused."
Petraeus attorney Jake Sussman said this was not a case about the public dissemination of classified information, but the wrongful removal of materials. But prosecutor James Melindres said, "This is a serious criminal offense. He was entrusted with the nation's most classified secrets. The defendant betrayed that trust". Melindres says Petraeus compounded that trust by "lying to the FBI."
In a brief statement after the hearing, Petraeus said this marks the end of a two-and-a-half year ordeal, and he just wants to move on. "I now look forward to moving on to the next phase of my life," he said, before walking to a waiting car and leaving. The agreement was filed in federal court in Charlotte, the city where Paula Broadwell, the general's biographer and former lover, lives with her husband and children.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
And Petraeus is more equal than others. Had an unknown officer who doesn't have stars (or an enlisted) done what Petraeus did, he/she would be thrown in prison and the key destroyed.
Obviously, there is a hierarchy of equalness.
It wasn't a leak.
He let his GF have access to classified material, which went no further.
The GF did not publish or otherwise disseminate the material.
He was a dope, but is being punished for non-security reasons.
That's not going to happen. As long as men (people) continue to make stupid moves like this, their enemies are going to use it against them.
That's one of the main reasons why I said what I said, but there are others.
You see with blind eyes. To me, the lady in the middle is the most beautiful .... The two on the outside are ugly, inside and out.
Hell for that matter, the Clintons are evidence that justice isn’t served in America.
And for the next two years (the remainder of Obola's second term) there WILL be someone looking over his shoulder...
She cheating on your wife is acceptable because she is not attractive? Really.
His clear violation of law was the transfer of documents. Even that, though, assumes there were not traditions of CIA directors carrying around secure documents. At one level, just about everything they touched would become classified. Allowing his mistress to have access to them was different.
However, he was not in the military at the time, so what any military member would have done is irrelevant. He was the director of the CIA...a civilian position. He retired from the Army on Aug 11, 2011 and took the CIA job on Sep 6, 2011. The Army regs did not apply to him after he retired.
Had he wanted to in his capacity as CIA director, he could have given her access and had her sign a non-disclosure. Then it all would have been legal. He might have had a tough time justifying need to know, but had he approached it as the CIA director rather than as a cheating husband, he would have gotten away with it.
But, I think the NSA reported all his communications to Barry and Hillary, so there was no such thing as secrecy in his life. A reminder: everything looks worse in black and white. A face to face conversation is still the best secure means of maintaining confidentiality.
So now that he's off, why should he honor that deal?
What I don't understand about all this is that the NSA surely has multiple copies of Hillary's emails, yet NOBODY is screaming for them.
I really try to not get into personal comments about posters on FR as I respect the forum, believe people should be able to say just about anything they want and I learn a lot from these comments BUT...
You ought to be ashamed with your implication that because the wife is not “hot”, it explains his infidelity...disgusting comment.
It’s a stupid waste of that probation officer’s time and thus of the taxpayer money that pays his salary. DP is not going to, indeed is not even in a position any longer to repeat his offense, pointless.
Probation is for petty thieves and dopers.
The guy broke the rules.
He got punished.
Obama should pardon him.
Honest, brave cops?
That’s a pretty small group.
Ok, let’s all take photos of our wife’s and post them so that people can judge. After 30 years my wife is not as outwardly hot as she was. But I would suggest that I might not be as cute as I once was either.
And it was that woman who worked countless hours beside him in all his levels of command to insure the family support groups of his units functioned during deployment and garrison alike. There was a time when the wife could be mentioned in a rating. Petraeus might even have early OERs in which she is mentioned. But, even when the spouse isn't mentioned, it is known. And a man doesn't get promoted without a strong hand on the family support side of the ledger.
But beyond that, I don't know if they had kids, but if they did, then she raised them for him. She kept the home functioning, because the service member is GONE. She still was his confidant, and I've no doubt there was a time when she trusted him with everything she was. And loved him despite all he wasn't, that she knew, but the outside would never know.
So, his act was a betrayal, a horrific betrayal, of his closest friend.
That is more why he should no longer be trusted than that he had secret documents in the hands of an uncleared person.
He betrays his deepest friends.
See #56
au contraire mi amigo...... (a little frog/mex lingo there)
the probation is the leash to keep him from recanting the truth that would be harmful to the treacherous tyrant that is president
there will be no pardon
Except for Kennedys Johnsons Roosevelt Clintons. All depends on what party you belong to.
I guess I see his probation as one of those things where he meets with the PO, and then doesn’t meet with him again. Kind of a Released OR.
I think DP is so done with government for right now, he will work on his book to be published right after the probation ends. But Obama will be out of office by then.
It is a shame because up to the point where he retired from the Army, I thought he was a good guy. Just goes to show you.
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