Petraeus Bombshell: Private Emails Led FBI To Mistress, Conflicting Details Emerge
The Benghazi story line never fails to shock. The latest on the Petraeus Affair is worth noting, not for gossip purposes, but for the possible connection to the upcoming Benghazi hearing. FBI sources say they began an investigation last spring, when they mistook an email Petraeus had sent to his girlfriend as referring to corruption. At that point they uncovered the affair, and continued to investigate the emails. And here is where the story gets “murky”. There are two conflicting reports in regards to the ending of the relationship. One report, Ed Morrsisey at HotAir cites a series of tweets by Martha Raddatz:
Official tells me sevrl people who knew Petraeus got anonymous harassing emails. So investigation started. Emails then traced to Broadwell.
— Martha Raddatz (@MarthaRaddatz) November 10, 2012
(1/2) @martharaddatz reports thatfriends of Petraeus received weird emails, & i’ve learned the CIA& D/CIA ASKED the FBI to investigate.
— Marc Ambinder (@marcambinder) November 10, 2012
(2/2). The FBI did. They discovered that Broadwell was likely the source. They disclosed this to Petraeus 2 weeks ago.
Ok, so from this information it looks like it was Petraeus himself, who asked the FBI to investigate. That Paula Broadwell, the mistress, went “Fatal Attraction” email version on Petraeus. From another source, Ronald Kessler we read a total different version:
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.(emphasis mine)
This article also cites “FBI sources” for the information above. Which is it? And why is it important? This affair happened prior to Petraeus becoming the CIA Director. We can surmise that the CIA was well aware of the ended affair. So why did he have to resign now? Why did Petraeus have to “tell the world” the reason he was leaving? Its logical to conclude that even if they told him to resign, or, if Petraeus had a moment of “guilt” and felt he needed to resign, what is the purpose of outing the whole affair? Why not just say “I am leaving for personal reasons” and spare your family the embarrassment? And lastly, why is this coming now, 3 days after the Election, and a week before the Benghazi hearings?
What if Petraeus had information as CIA Director that would point at the White House for the Benghazi debacle? Petraeus went on record and stated
No One In the CIA Ordered Operatives To Stand Down
No one in the CIA. Does Petraeus know who ordered the “stand down” order? Could it be that the White House knowing of Petraeus’ affair told the Director “he might want to play ball with their narrative on Benghazi, or that affair you had might just make it into the news?” This is just speculation on this writer’s part, but much of this Petraeus resignation doesn’t pass the smell test. Could have Petraeus then, decided to “just out the affair himself”? The conflicting reports about the affair, seemingly both from “FBI sources” to the timing and circumstances surrounding the resignation are producing many more questions than answers.
UPDATE! In an article by Aaron Klein this other bombshell
Perhaps overlooked is the CIA’s role in purportedly using the Benghazi mission to coordinate U.S. aid to Syrian opposition groups and information those same insurgents include jihadists openly acting under the al-Qaida umbrella.
Patraeus resigned at a time when the U.S. intelligence community is facing criticism over both its response to the assault in Benghazi and whether it had early warnings of al-Qaida plans to attack the U.S. mission in that country.
These issues, of the US “gun running” from Benghazi, and aiding jihadits is information that Petraeus needs to testify on. Recall that the Benghazi “mission” was called the “Benghazi Consulate”, fact is, there is no Consulate in Benghazi. Obama and Hillary Clinton were careful in the last weeks to refer to the Benghazi “mission”, as they dropped the term “Consulate”. That is important, there was a “mission” in Benghazi, and that mission was arming the Syrian rebels, who have ties to al-Qaida. Petraeus must testify if we are to know the truth.
–thanks to Diana Nowell of “Hidden British News” who contributed to this post.