David Petraeus Gets Fine & Probation For Leaking National Secrets
David Petraeus will face criminal sentencing later this morning as part of a guilty plea concerning the admission that he shared classified information with his mistress, Paula Broadwell.
In what is the biggest case of falling from grace since Bill Clinton’s impeachment, General David Petraeus was once in charge of operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and later, of the Central Intelligence Agency. He was also a potential presidential candidate.
After serving as head of the CIA for only a year, however, David Petraeus sent a resignation letter to President Obama. The resignation was abrupt and raised more than a few eyebrows in the governmental theater. Then, in 2012, information began to seep out in drips and drabs that Petraeus had taken on his biographer, Paula Broadwell, as a lover. David Petraeus has been married since 1974 to Holly Knowlton Petraeus.
At first, everyone just thought that Petraeus had seen the error of his ways and realized that the head of the Central Intelligence Agency shouldn’t be someone with a mistress. However, things got a bit dicier when it came to light that David may have shared classified information with Paula Broadwell.
The information that David Petraeus shared with Broadwell was contained in two black notebooks. Each reportedly contained notes from national security meetings, the names of covert officers, and other classified material.
Having pled guilty for sharing the classified material with his lover, it now appears as if David Petraeus is going to be granted a plea deal at his sentencing later today. For payment of $40,000 and for being on probation for two years, Petraeus will reportedly avoid jail time. In fact, to a man of David’s stature, the penalty is really no more than a slap on the wrist.
Some would say that David Petraeus has already started coming back from his brief fall from grace, just as Bill Clinton did after his impeachment. Slowly but surely, the former general and CIA chief has quietly accepted positions at universities and the private equity powerhouse Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. There’s even been talk of David rising back up through the popularity and political ranks to try his hand for a run at the presidency — if not in 2016, then in 2020.
Next #Daybreak @wsoctv, @StephanieWSOC9 on #PetraeusSentencing. Why former CIA Dir. only faces a misdemeanor for sharing classified info.
— Allison Latos (@AllisonWSOC9) April 23, 2015
Obama double standards on leaks: While @xychelsea serves 35 years, plea deal gets Petraeus fine and probation http://t.co/tbWmxYUDYV
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) April 23, 2015
David Petraeus’ fall began and ends in Charlotte, NC: http://t.co/IX9yqiVihp
— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) April 23, 2015
[Photo by Chip Simodevilla/Getty Images]
