The Defense Department is conducting a new leaks investigation related to the sex scandal that led to the resignation of former CIA Director David Petraeus, The Associated Press confirmed Monday, the same day Petraeus was meeting with President-elect Donald Trump in New York.
Petraeus, who could be in line for a Cabinet nomination, arrived at Trump Tower in early afternoon and met with Trump for about one hour. Trump afterward tweeted that he “was very impressed.”
Petraeus said Trump “basically walked us around the world, showed a great grasp of a variety of the challenges that are out there and some of the opportunities as well. Very good conversation and we’ll see where it goes from here. We’ll see where it goes from here.”
A U.S. official told the AP that investigators were trying to determine who leaked personal information about Paula Broadwell, the woman whose affair with Petraeus led to criminal charges against him and his resignation. The information concerned the status of her security clearance, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Disclosure of the Broadwell information without official permission would have been a violation of federal criminal law.
The latest twist in the case could complicate Petraeus’ prospects of obtaining a Cabinet position in the Trump administration, resurfacing details of the extramarital affair and FBI investigation that ended his career at the CIA and tarnished the reputation of the retired four-star general.
He pleaded guilty last year to one misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information relating to documents he had provided to Broadwell, his biographer. He was spared prison time under a plea agreement with the Justice Department. The Army in late 2012 suspended the security clearance of Broadwell, a former Army intelligence officer. Such a move is routine when a person is under investigation, particularly in a case of a possible security breach.
The investigation began after a Petraeus friend, Jill Kelley, complained to the FBI in 2012 about harassing emails from an unknown person who turned out to be Broadwell.
During his campaign, Trump repeatedly lambasted Hillary Clinton, who had come under federal investigation for her use of a private email server as secretary of state. He suggested her actions were worse than those by Petraeus.
FBI Director James Comey has drawn a distinction between the two cases, saying there was no evidence that Clinton or her aides had intended to break the law through careless handling of sensitive information. Federal prosecutors said Petraeus knew black binders he shared with Broadwell contained classified information, but he nonetheless provided them.
Broadwell did not immediately return a phone message or email seeking comment Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
The Defense Department is investigating Petraeus again?? The fascist liberals will do everything they can to ruin a republican general, especially when he’s being considered for a cabinet position by DJT. I’d say they were successful in devastating his reputation already, and they ignore a potential investigation of clinton doing the same thing. Hypocrites !!
Petraeus didn’t cause the death of four Americans in Benghazi.
Obama leaves a legacy: DEATH OF FOUR AMERICANS IN BENGHAZI
Clinton pulled Petraeus Affair out of her big black book of dirt she has on people. SHE DID IT TO SHUT HIM UP ABOUT Benghazi. They kept him under indictment for over two years so he couldn’t talk.
I AGREE. GEN. POTRAUS’ LOCK UP WAS DONE BY HILLARY CLINTON. HE PROBABLY WOULD NOT HAVE
A RELATIONSHIP WITH HER…SO HE GOT PUNISHED!
This is total BULL. Petraeus was investigated for security issues! And Sharon is right–he didn’t kill our men in Benghazi!–Hillary may as well have pulled killed them herself! Hillary stole thousands of Republican files when she was Secretary of State. NONE of that info should be available because she got it for blackmail. She’s a common thief, LIAR and more! Drain the Swamp!
Gen. Petraeus’ past problems may come back to haunt him during his Senate confirmation. Classified information is not meant to be shared with those who lack the necessary clearances to handle the information. If this guy isn’t able to be trusted to handle classified and sensitive information in a competent manner he doesn’t need to be put in the position of giving away American intelligence.
I agree with you, totally!
Mr. Trump when you said drain the swamp did you not understand your own words? We the people don’t want any one who is establishment, who has dirt under their nails, involved with the Clinton’s in any way, or the Bush’s for that matter. We don’t want anyone who is for Common Core or who can be tied to Pizza Gate, we don’t want anyone who will try limiting or subverting the Constitution in any way. WE THE PEOPLE do not want another politician at the helm of our country. If you can’t get that through your thick skull then maybe you should rethink why you actually ran in the first place.
Good comment. I’m tired of the President, Congress and Judicial entities doing it their way. WE THE PEOPLE elect you to do it OUR WAY. AMERICA FIRST, ONE MIND, ONE ACCORD.
I strongly agree with your comment of how we want. BUSH,OBAMA and even CLINTON Staff should be removed and Abolished them to return to Political…., We The People don’t recognized any former past member staff that educate influential experience to start corruption again…, we need new blood, new responsibility good people and not bad people again….
WHEN are they going to lock up HELLigula & the other two Clintons?!? Yes, the three of them.
After all, they are one of the biggest crooks the USA has ever had.
Wow! May have leaked classified information to his mistress–Petraeus apparently was attempting to mimic the Clintons–except he fell about twenty-thousand “classified items” short of the missus Clinton and a dozen or more affairs by the mister–But then, when it’s the Clintons, it’s okay
If Mitt Romney were Secretary of State could he really be counted on to follow the President’s policies if he didn’t agree with them?