Paula Broadwell: Gen. David Petraeus Mistress Reportedly Sent Harassing Emails To Third Party

Paula Broadwell, the biographer of Gen. David Petraeus who was revealed to have carried on a months-long affair with the CIA director, reportedly sent harassing emails to a third party that caused the affair to be uncovered.

The Paula Broadwell email revelation was discovered by The New York Times, which reported that the FBI came across the affair because the third party made a complaint.

The third party that received emails from Paula Broadwell was not a family member or government official, The Huffington Post noted. A Congressional official noted that the FBI investigation started between two women.

When the FBI agents followed up on the complaint to examine Broadwell’s emails, they found exchanges with Gen. David Petraeus showing that they were having an affair.

“It didn’t start with Petraeus, but in the course of the investigation they stumbled across him,” the Congressional official told the New York Times, adding that the FBI didn’t reveal details about the women. “We were stunned.”

Paula Broadwell and her husband may have hinted about the affair in the past months. In a Newsweek article last week, Broadwell documented the CIA director’s “Rules for Living,” one of which appeared to be an admission of some kind of guilt. For the fifth rule, Broadwell wrote, “We all will make mistakes. The key is to recognize them and admit them, to learn from them, and to take off the rear view mirrors—drive on and avoid making them again.”

There is also speculation that Paula Broadwell’s husband may have written about the affair to a New York Times advice columnist, in which the writer said he had information about his wife’s affair with a government officia who“is seen worldwide as a demonstration of American leadership.”