Thread: David Petraeus pleas guilt in deal over passing classified 'black books' to lover

David Petraeus pleas guilt in deal over passing classified 'black books' to lover
General reaches agreement with Justice Department over charge that he gave sensitive information to Paula Broadwell while he was director of the CIA



General David Petraeus, the pre-eminent wartime military officer of his generation, will plead guilty in a deal reached with the Justice Department to one count of passing classified information to a lover while he was director of the CIA.

The Justice Department announced the plea deal in a statement on Tuesday. The deal calls for two years’ probation and a $40,000 fine, with no prison time.

The FBI recommended that felony charges be brought against Petraeus in January, following an investigation of his relationship with Paula Broadwell, a member of the army reserve and Petraeus’s biographer.

The plea agreement was filed in the US district court for the western district of North Carolina’s Charlotte division. Broadwell and her family live in Charlotte.

Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA in late 2012, after his affair with Broadwell came to light. “I have no evidence at this point from what I’ve seen that classified information was disclosed that in any way would have had a negative impact on our national security,” Obama said at a White House briefing following the resignation.

Federal prosecutors disagreed, advising the attorney general, Eric Holder, to bring charges against Petraeus for giving information to Broadwell, possibly for use in her book All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.

The guilty plea marks a stunning new low for Petraeus, a four-star general once entrusted with the country’s defining military missions and most closely held secrets. Petraeus took charge of multinational forces in Iraq in 2007, after four years of filling various command roles in the country, including combat roles. He was placed in charge of United States Central Command in 2008, and became commander of the International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan two years later.

The plea deal establishes that Petraeus shared “black books” with Broadwell with “classified information regarding the identities of covert officers, war strategy, intelligence capabilities and mechanisms, diplomatic discussions, quotes and deliberative discussions from high-level National Security Council meetings, and defendant David Howell Petraeus’s discussions with the President of the United States of America”.

The plea deal filing further establishes that Petraeus lied to FBI agents on 26 October 2012 in Petraeus’s office at CIA headquarters. “Petraeus stated that … he had never provided any classified information to his biographer” or facilitated its provision, the filing reads. “These statements were false. Defendant David Howell Petraeus then and there knew that he previously shared the Black Books with his biographer.”

Petraeus did not respond to requests for comment from the Guardian.

In the two and a half years since he resigned as head of the CIA, Petraeus has held teaching roles, including at Harvard and the City University of New York, and joined the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts as a partner.

Petraeus apologized for his infidelity in a statement as he left government, saying that “after being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment”.

“Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours,” Petraeus said. “This afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation.

David Petraeus pleas guilt in deal over passing classified 'black books' to lover | US news | The Guardian

he has done ok for himself since leaving the army, and managed to '' know a friend'' his way out of prison.

Don't they usually hang people for stuff like this?...

Seriously, he got off lightly...

Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

Don't they usually hang people for stuff like this?...

Seriously, he got off lightly...

He has a get out of jail free card, as CIA boss he knows all the secrets.
Must have a plan in place for release of information if he has an accident.

Bloody hell.
He should get life.
Bradley manning, a corporal, got 35 years.
Talk about double standards.

Certifiable for sure.

Originally Posted by Koojo

Bloody hell.
He should get life.
Bradley manning, a corporal, got 35 years.
Talk about double standards.

Low level information shared with his biographer ? To be sifted through in order to create a biography ? You can't compare him with Manning. Where's your sense of proportion ?

Originally Posted by pseudolus

“I have no evidence at this point from what I’ve seen that classified information was disclosed that in any way would have had a negative impact on our national security,” Obama said at a White House briefing following the resignation.

^ That Obama quote is from late 2012 and Federal prosecutors later disagreed.

Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA in late 2012, after his affair with Broadwell came to light. “I have no evidence at this point from what I’ve seen that classified information was disclosed that in any way would have had a negative impact on our national security,” Obama said at a White House briefing following the resignation.

Federal prosecutors disagreed, advising the attorney general, Eric Holder, to bring charges against Petraeus for giving information to Broadwell, possibly for use in her book All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.

Low level information?

The plea deal establishes that Petraeus shared “black books” with Broadwell with “classified information regarding the identities of covert officers, war strategy, intelligence capabilities and mechanisms, diplomatic discussions, quotes and deliberative discussions from high-level National Security Council meetings, and defendant David Howell Petraeus’s discussions with the President of the United States of America”.

Originally Posted by Latindancer

Low level information shared with his biographer ? To be sifted through in order to create a biography ? You can't compare him with Manning. Where's your sense of proportion ?

You never know what exactly he passed on whilst he was dipping his wick in this tart. KGB for years used tarts to get the real secrets out of people.

Seems his wife is sticking with him. Why not? He only cheated on her and betrayed his country so no problem there.

Surprised he was not promoted though; being a lying scumbag is part of the job description for CIA after all.

Wonder if he has a T-Shirt saying "I am Bradley Manning" that he wears whilst divulging secrets whilst cheating on his wife, before going to church no doubt and pontificating about being righteous etc

Originally Posted by Koojo

Bloody hell.
He should get life.
Bradley manning, a corporal, got 35 years.
Talk about double standards.

Good point about Manning, especially since you would expect someone who had reached the rank and levels Petraeus did to have better judgment than a corporal.

^ I think it's American etiquette for the wife to stay until the case is over then leave.

In light that Ed Snowdon is talking with the US about a return, I would hope that he gets Petraeus lawyer to crack the same deal.

No doubt though that Ed and Manning who broke the law for the good of the USA and the world will both endure long sentences, and Petraeus will get off scott free who leaked reams of confidential inside notes to a journalist to get his cock wet.