On Friday, news broke that General David Petraeus would be resigning from his position as CIA Director, thanks to an alleged affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.
Over the weekend, the story grew and now questions have emerged regarding the timing of his resignation and the outing of possibly classified information by Paula Broadwell.
Regardless of the political party, frustration has been expressed on when the affair had been discovered and who knew about it. On Sunday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. and chair of the Intelligence Committee, said via NBC News, “We received no advance notice; it was like a lightning bolt. We should have been told. There is a way to do it.”
According to NBC News, David Petraeus told a former colleague this weekend the relationship with Paula Broadwell had gone on for nine or 10 months, but had concluded four months ago.
Peter King, R-N.Y., chair of the Homeland Security committee, said to CNN, “It seems this has been going on for several months, but now it appears that they’re saying the FBI didn’t realize until Election Day that General Petraeus was involved. It just doesn’t add up.”
Various news reports had the affair coming to light after Broadwell had sent anonymous and threatening emails to Petraeus family friend, Jill Kelley. This began in May, reported the Wall Street Journal, and Jill Kelley, a social planner at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base, told the Federal Bureau of Investigation about them, after she thought they were harassing.
The FBI investigated the emails and then learned of the link between David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell.
In addition, the agency is also looking at a possible breach of classified information.
At an Oct. 26 speech at the University of Denver, Broadwell supposedly disclosed sensitive–possibly classified–information about the Benghazi U.S. consulate attack on Sept. 11. She had been asked about David Petraeus’ handling of the event.
Among her comments, she claimed that the CIA held numerous Libyan militia members prisoner; this may have motivated the attack, reported Foreign Policy.com.
The CIA has since denied the holding of prisoners at that location, reported the DailyBeast‘s Eli Lake, while the Washington Post‘s Greg Miller tweeted, “CIA adamant that Broadwell claims about agency holding prisoners at Benghazi are not true.”
This again brings into play the timing of David Petraeus’ resignation. He is to testify on Thursday about the Benghazi attacks. Lawmakers have said that the former director is vital to providing answers about the event.
An unnamed official said to NBC that the investigation was “overseen carefully” and that “The investigation had to take a certain path, step by step. Things needed to be explored, and there were sensitivities to observe.”
Since the news on Friday, neither David Petraeus nor Broadwell have made public comments.
