Petraeus to Plead Guilty, Avoid Trial over Leaking Classified Info During Affair

Former U.S. Army General David Petraeus is expected to plead guilty for leaking classified information, in a deal brokered by the Justice Department Tuesday.

“The criminal Information charges the defendant with one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material,” the Justice Department said in a statement. “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.”

The plea bargain allows Petraeus to avoid a trial that would reveal embarrassing details of his affair with biographer/mistress Paula Broadwell. As the result of a cyberstalking investigation in 2011, the FBI discovered emails of Broadwell’s containing classified information; more classified documents were found on Broadwell’s computer. At the time Petraeus denied passing along classified information.

Petraeus oversaw the 2007 surge that many credit with having salvaged the U.S.’s war effort in Iraq. He later became CIA Director and was bandied about as a potential presidential candidate before the revelation of the affair as the result of the FBI investigation forced his resignation and effectively ended his political career.

Not everybody has been called for Petraeus’ head. “This man has suffered enough in my view,” Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said in January. ”People aren’t perfect. He made a mistake. He lost his job as CIA director because of it. How much do you want to punish somebody?”

[h/t New York Times]

[Image via screengrab]

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