Lawmakers vexed over Petraeus case

— Members of Congress said Sunday they want to know more details about the FBI investigation that revealed an extramarital affair between ex-CIA Director David Petraeus and his biographer, questioning when the retired general popped up in the FBI inquiry, whether national security was compromised and why they weren’t told sooner.

“We received no advancenotice. It was like a lightning bolt,” said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The FBI was investigating reports of harassing e-mails sent by Petraeus biographer and girlfriend Paula Broadwell to a second woman. That probe of Broadwell’s e-mails revealed the affair between Broadwell and Petraeus. The FBI contacted Petraeus and other intelligence officials, andDirector of National Intelligence James Clapper asked Petraeus to resign.

A senior U.S. military official identified the second woman as Jill Kelley, 37, who lives in Tampa, Fla., and serves as an unpaid social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, where the military’s Central Command and Special Operations Command are located.

Staff members for Petraeus said Kelley and her husband were regular guests at events he held at Central Command headquarters.

In a statement Sunday evening, Kelley and her husband, Scott, said: “We and our family have been friends with Gen. Petraeus and his family for over five years. We respect his and his family’s privacy and want the same for us and our three children.”

A U.S. official said the coalition countries represented at Central Command gave Kelley an appreciation certificate on which she wasreferred to as an “honorary ambassador” to the coalition, but she has no official status and is not employed by the U.S. government.

The military off icial, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation, said Kelley had received harassing e-mails from Broadwell, which led the FBI to examine Broadwell’s e-mail account and eventually discover her relationship with Petraeus.

A former associate of Petraeus confirmed the target of the e-mails was Kelley, but said there was no affair between the two, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the retired general’s private life. The associate, who has been in touch with Petraeus since his resignation, said Kelley and her husband were longtime friends of Petraeus and his wife, Holly.

Petraeus resigned while lawmakers still had questions about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate and CIA base in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Lawmakers said it’s possible that Petraeus still will be asked to appear on Capitol Hill to testify about what he knewabout the U.S. response to that incident.

Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the circumstances of the FBI probe smacked of a coverup by the White House.

“It seems this [the investigation] has been going on for several months and, yet, now it appears that they’re saying that the FBI didn’t realize until Election Day that Gen. Petraeus was involved. It just doesn’t add up,” said King, R-N.Y.

“The timeline has to be looked at and analyzed,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union. “Because obviously this was a matter involving a potential compromise of security and the president should have been told about it at the earliest stage.”

Petraeus, 60, quit Friday after acknowledging an extramarital relationship. He has been married 38 years toHolly Petraeus, with whom he has two adult children, including a son who led an infantry platoon in Afghanistan as an Army lieutenant.

Broadwell, a 40-year-old graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and an Army Reserve officer, is married with two young sons.

Broadwell has not responded to multiple e-mails and phone messages.

Petraeus’ affair with Broadwell will be the subject of meetings Wednesday involving congressional intelligence committee leaders, FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce and CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell.

Petraeus had been scheduled to appear before the committees Thursday to testify on what the CIA knew and what the agency told the White House before, during and after the attack in Benghazi. Republicans and some Democrats have questioned the U.S. response and protection of diplomats stationed overseas.

Morell was expected to testify in place of Petraeus, and lawmakers said he should have the answers to their questions. But Feinstein and others didn’t rule out the possibility that Congress will compel Petraeus to testify about Benghazi at a later date, even though he’s relinquished his job.

“I don’t see how in the world you can f ind out what happened in Benghazi before, during and after the attack if General Petraeus doesn’t testify,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on the CBS program Face the Nation.

Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the Benghazi attack a “national security failure” and said he wants to create a joint congressional committee to investigate the U.S. response to that attack, in which Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died.

Feinstein said on Fox News Sunday that she first learned of Petraeus’ affair from the media late last week, and confirmed it in a phone call Friday with Petraeus. She eventually was briefed by the FBI and said so far there was no indication that national security was breached.

Still, Feinstein called the news “a heartbreak” for her personally and U.S. intelligence operations, and said she would investigate why the FBI didn’t give her a heads up as soon as Petraeus’ name emerged in the investigation.

“We are very much able to keep things in a classified setting,” she said. “At least if you know, you can begin to think and then to plan. And, of course, we have not had that opportunity.”

The incident “could have had an effect on national security,” Feinstein said. “We should have been told.”

Clapper was told by the Justice Department of the Petraeus investigation at about 5 p.m. on Election Day, and then called Petraeus and urged him to resign, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official who spoke oncondition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

FBI officials said the committees weren’t informed until Friday, one official said, because the matter started as a criminal investigation into harassing e-mails sent by Broadwell to another woman.

Concerned that the emails he exchanged with Broadwell raised the possibility of a security breach, the FBI raised the matter with Petraeus directly, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

Petraeus decided to quit, though he was breaking no laws by having an affair, officials said.

Feinstein said she has not been told the precise relationship between Petraeus and the woman who reported the harassing e-mails to the FBI.

Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, said on the ABC program This Week that Petraeus was “a great leader” who did right by stepping down and said he still deserves the nation’s gratitude. He also didn’t rule out calling Petraeus to testify on Benghazi at some point.

“He’s trying to put his life back together right now and that’s what he needs to focus on,” Chambliss said.

Information for this article was contributed by Anne Flaherty, Kimberly Dozier, Adam Goldman, Michele Salcedo, Pete Yost and Matthew Lee of The Associated Press and by Brian Knowlton of The New York Times.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/12/2012

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