David Petraeus
Government Corruption, International, Politics, US

David Petraeus Strikes Plea Deal, Expected To Serve Two Years Probation

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Former CIA director and military commander David Petraeus reached a plea deal with the Justice Department Tuesday and has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of “unauthorized removal and retention of classified material.” That charge can lead to up to one year in prison, but prosecutors are expected to recommend two years of probation and a $40,000 fine.

The Justice Department released a statement following the plea deal:

“Three documents — a criminal information, a plea agreement and a statement of facts — were filed today in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina’s Charlotte Division in the case of United States v. David Howell Petraeus. The criminal information charges the defendant with one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material. … The plea agreement and corresponding statement of facts, both signed by the defendant, indicate that he will plead guilty to the one-count criminal information.”

Petraeus admitted that he gave highly classified information- including “identifies of covert officers, war strategy, intelligence capabilities and mechanisms, diplomatic discussions, quotes and deliberative discussions from high-level National Security Council meetings” as well as discussions with President Barack Obama- to his mistress, Paula Broadwell, an Army Reserve officer who was writing a biography about Petraeus. He also gave her “national defense information, including top secret/SCI and code word information.” In 2012, Petraeus had initially denied giving Broadwell the information.

Before the discovery that Petraeus had given information to Broadwell, he had resigned from his position as CIA director after an FBI investigation of Petraeus’s emails revealed a relationship with Broadwell. Petraeus’s emails were monitored because a woman named Jill Kelley told the FBI that she was receiving threatening emails, and the emails traced back to Broadwell.

Officials had originally said in 2012 that Petraeus’s affair with Broadwell had no effect on national security, but evidence was later found that Petraeus gave Broadwell classified information.