And David Petraeus's military career and political ambitions end with a plea deal to keep him out of a lengthy prison sentence.
Mr. Petraeus will plead guilty to one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison. Mr. Petraeus has signed the agreement, said Marc Raimondi, a Justice Department spokesman.
The plea deal completes a spectacular fall for Mr. Petraeus, a retired four-star general who was once discussed as a possible candidate for vice president or even president. He led the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was the architect of a counterinsurgency strategy that at one time seemed a model for future warfare.
The mistress, Paula Broadwell, is a former Army Reserve officer who had an affair with Mr. Petraeus in 2011, when she was interviewing him for a biography, “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.”
Mr. Petraeus resigned as the director of the C.I.A. in 2012, three days after President Obama was re-elected. At the time, Mr. Petraeus acknowledged the affair. He has since denied any criminal wrongdoing.
The plea deal spares Mr. Petraeus a high-profile trial where embarrassing details about the affair would have been presented to the jury and made public. Mr. Petraeus is still married to Holly Petraeus.
And while his political ambitions are toast, don't feel bad for the guy.
Mr. Petraeus has also made a significant amount of money since leaving the C.I.A. He is a partner at one of the world’s largest private-equity firms, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and he has taught at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities, including Harvard.
Nice work if you can get it.
If I took home classified information from my place of employment, I would be disappeared for a couple of weeks to chat with the stern unsmiling men who watch the entrances and exits. Perhaps, if my answers did not please them, another stop on the new employees' tour would begin with the words "this is where they found a body, once..."
ReplyDeleteI am hoping that Petraeus has a dossier stashed on every important figure in the Obama administration, because otherwise this smells like straight up corruption - the old boy network protecting one of its own. This is not why I have been battling to put down the Republicans while fending off the hysterical ninnie hordes.
nothing but White Privilege. Do you think Colin Powell's ass wouldn't be in jail if he had done this? OF COURSE HE WOULD
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