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9 January 2015 Last updated at 20:07 ET
Petraeus case: 'Charges recommended' for ex-CIA boss
David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell Mr Petraeus reportedly began an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell in 2011
US prosecutors have recommended bringing charges against ex-CIA director David Petraeus for providing classified information to a former mistress, the New York Times reports.
The paper cites officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A decorated former general, Mr Petraeus resigned as CIA chief in 2012 after details of his affair with Paula Broadwell emerged.
He was a commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan before taking the role.
A US Justice Department investigation is focusing on whether Mr Petraeus gave Ms Broadwell access to his CIA email and other classified information while director of the organisation, the paper says.
FBI agents discovered classified documents on her computer after he quit, according to the New York Times.
The recommendations to press criminal charges from the FBI and US Justice Department would leave Attorney General Eric Holder with a decision on whether to seek an indictment, which could see the former CIA chief jailed if found guilty.
The FBI search Paula Broadwell's home in 2012
A lawyer for Mr Petraeus did not comment.
But Mr Petraeus has said he never provided classified information to Ms Broadwell, according to the paper.
The affair reportedly began in 2011, while Ms Broadwell was working on a biography of Mr Petraeus.
In the same year, Mr Petraeus resigned from his commanding position in Afghanistan to take on the CIA role.
Mr Petraeus resigned from the CIA in 2012, saying he had shown "extremely poor judgment" in conducting the affair.
President Obama paid tribute to him at the time, saying he had "provided extraordinary service to the United States for decades".
David Petraeus in Afghanistan in 2011 Mr Petraeus was a highly regarded decorated former general
Former CIA chief facing potential charges for leaking secret to his mistress
Prosecutors have recommended charges against David Petraeus but the US attorney general must make final decision
David Petraeus is facing potential criminal charges Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Raf Sanchez, Washington
9:57PM GMT 11 Jan 2015
David Petraeus, the former head of the CIA and one of America’s most celebrated military commanders, is facing potential criminal charges over allegations that he leaked state secrets to his mistress.
Federal prosecutors have recommended bringing charges against Mr Petraeus, leaving Eric Holder, the US attorney general, with the unenviable decision of whether to prosecute a decorated war hero.
Appearing on US television, Mr Holder said “the determination has yet to be made” even as a chorus of senior Democrat and Republican senators urged him not to pursue charges.
Mr Petraeus’ storied career came to an abrupt end in November 2012 when he suddenly resigned as head of the CIA and admitted having an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.
The affair only came to light because Mrs Broadwell allegedly sent threatening email messages to a Florida socialite who she perceived as a rival for Mr Petraeus’s affections.
As FBI agents investigated the threatening emails they found messages from the CIA director in Mrs Broadwell’s email account and later allegedly discovered classified information, which they believe Mr Petraeus had provided to his lover in violation of US law.
The Obama administration has aggressively clamped down on those who reveal state secrets and prosecuted more leakers than all other previous administrations combined.
It now faces the question of whether to prosecute a general so popular with the American public he was once considered a serious presidential contender.
Prosecutors with the US Department of Justice believe they have enough evidence to convict Mr Petraeus and potentially send him to prison for years.
A prosecution must first be authorised by Mr Holder, who will have to decide whether to charge a man he once sat beside in President Barack Obama’s inner circle of senior advisors.
“I don’t want to comment on what is an ongoing matter,” Mr Holder told NBC on Sunday.” “The determination has yet to be made. And we will just see how things play out before any final decision is made.” Mr Petraeus has not commented since news of the potential prosecution broke but John McCain, the senior Republican senator, defended him on CNN.
Mr McCain said it was wrong for prosecutors to leak details of the potential prosecution before a decision was finalised. “It’s a violation of any citizen’s rights to have that information leaked, much less a man that is a genuine American hero,” he said.
Dianne Feinstein, a powerful Democrat who championed the Senate report into the CIA’s use of torture, also came to Mr Petraeus’s defence and urged the government not to prosecute.
“This man has suffered enough in my view,” Mrs Feinstein said. “It’s done, it’s over. He’s retired. He’s lost his job. How much does the government want?” Critics say it would be wrong for the government to not pursue charges against Mr Petraeus while it is so aggressively prosecuting Edward Snowden and others who disclose classified information.
Mr Obama has not weighed in on the prospect of charges but he warmly praised Mr Petraeus when he resigned from the CIA, saying he was “one of the outstanding general officers of his generation”.
Mr Petraeus is credited with engineering the “surge” of US troops into Iraq in 2007, which helped reverse the country’s descent into seeming disintegration. Mr Obama asked him to take over command of Nato forces in Afghanistan in 2010 after the serving sgeneral was forced to resign for mocking the White House in a *Rolling Stone* article.
Soon after he returned from Afghanistan he began the affair with Mrs Broadwell, who was writing a book titled *All In: The Education of General David Petraeus*.
Mr Petraeus has no interest in negotiation a plea bargain, according to the New York Times, setting the stage for a potentially wrenching trial with the decorated general sitting in the dock like a common criminal defendant.
