Politics

David Petraeus’ wife Holly reportedly livid over affair

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Former CIA Director David Petraeus’ wife, Holly Petraeus, was reportedly livid when she learned that her husband of 37 years had engaged in an affair with his married biographer, Paula Broadwell, according to ABC News.

“Well, as you can imagine, she’s not exactly pleased right now,” retired U.S. Army Col. Steve Boylan told ABC. “In a conversation with David Petraeus this weekend, he said that ‘furious would be an understatement.’ And I think anyone that’s been put in that situation would probably agree. He deeply hurt the family.”

Sources told Fox News that close associates of Petraeus had long been aware of the affair. Family friends also told the network that Holly Petraeus likely knew about the affair for at least several months, as well.

The affair, which prompted Petraeus to resign from his CIA post on Friday, reportedly came to light when a friend of Petraeus, Jill Kelley of Tampa, told the FBI that she was receiving harassing emails. Cyberstalking is a federal crime that the FBI regularly investigates, according to the agency’s website.

Fox News reported Monday that the emails were sent from “dummy accounts” that were subsequently traced back to Broadwell.

The New York Times revealed Monday that officials in the Justice Department and FBI were notified of the apparent affair in late summer. However, they did not inform anyone outside of the agencies until last week because the investigation was ongoing.

No apparent security breaches were discovered in the email investigation, according to the Times’ sources.

While no one outside the FBI was officially told of the affair, according to sources, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor learned of Petraeus’ situation in late October from what Fox News describes as an agency whistleblower .

The whistleblower contacted Washington Republican Rep. Dave Reichert, who referred the whistleblower to Cantor. The majority leader then sent the whistleblower’s allegations on to FBI Director Robert Mueller, according to reports.

Cantor did not pass the information along to the House intelligence committee or other leaders in Congress because it was unclear at the time whether the information was credible, Fox News reported.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper learned of the affair on Election Day, and he encouraged Petraeus to resign the following day. On Thursday Petraeus went to the White House to inform President Barack Obama of his intent to resign, according to ABC News.

The president accepted the retired four-star general’s resignation the next day.

“I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours,” Petraeus wrote, announcing his resignation.

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Caroline May