Commentary on the economic , geopolitical and simply fascinating things going on. Served occasionally with a side of snark.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Major General John R Allen ( Commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan ) allegedly exchanged thousands of potentially inappropriate emails with jill Kelley - who is the woman who sparked alleged harassing emails from Paula Broadwell , who was having an affair with CIA Director General Petraeus...... WTF are folks doing ? ?
The headlines about the Petraeus affair in the Arab world this morning almost universally read something like “Lebanese woman brings down CIA.” The woman who seems to have destroyed three careers and kicked off the FBI investigation of Gen. David Petraeus, ex-director of the CIA, goes by Jill Kelley. But her maiden name is Gilberte Khawam.
Once the elder Khawam came to the US, he at one point ran a restaurant, the “Sahara,” in the Philadelphia area, and also an auto store. Gilberte or “Jill” was born in 1975, and it isn’t clear whether she was born in the US or in Lebanon. She later married a surgeon named Kelley and 12 years ago they moved to Tampa. They have 3 daughters.
The 1970s were a turbulent time in Lebanon, with the rise of the PLO in Palestinian refugee camps, student strikes, and then from April of 1975 the beginnings of a civil war that lasted a decade and a half. (I myself lived in Lebanon on and off in the 1970s).
Gilberte “Jill’s” twin sister is Natalie Khawam, who was involved in a custody battle with her ex-husband for her son, and whose petition to the court was endorsed by Petraeus and Gen. John Allen, Petraeus’s deputy in Afghanistan who became ISAF commander there.
Natalie Khawam, an attorney, has specialized in defending whistle-blowers. (More generals should be friendly with the attorneys for whistle-blowers, in my view). She is said to have been divorced in part because she cannot manage her finances, and went $3 mn. into debt and bankrupt. The judge in her custody case accused her of being dishonest, manipulative and detached from reality.
Apparently her sister, Gilberte “Jill” Khawam Kelley was close enough to Petraeus such that the latter’s ex-girlfriend, Paula Broadwell, was jealous of her.
The Petraeuses had been guests in the Kelley home in Tampa, and there is a photo, published by Alarabiya: of the Kelleys with Petraeus’s wife, Holly:
Broadwell sent Kelley threatening emails, some of them allegedly spoofed or counterfeited so that they looked like they came from Petraeus.
Kelley complained to a “friend” of hers who was an FBI agent, and he managed to convince the agency to investigate the source of the menacing emails. The FBI “friend” is now said to have been in the habit of sending Kelley photos of himself shirtless. He seems to have been (improperly) told of the Petraeus connection, and became frustrated at the pace of the agency investigation, believing that the FBI was protecting President Obama, and (most improperly)reached out to Eric Cantor, the House Majority leader. Cantor in turn, is alleged to have put pressure on the FBI director in October, perhaps hoping that a scandal would harm President Obama’s reelection campaign. The shirtless FBI agent who kicked the thing off is now himself under investigation!
The FBI not only discovered Broadwell’s affair with Petraeus when they looked into her email, they appear to have also looked into Kelley’s email and discovered a voluminous amorous correspondence between the commanding general in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, and Jill Khawam Kelley! Allen was in line to become supreme allied commander of NATO, but his confirmation has now been put on hold.
So does it matter that Jill Kelley is an Arab-American? I doubt it. She seems just to be a rich, flirtatious Tampa socialite with good Republican Party connections and a network of high military and FBI “admirers,” and who over-reacted to some petty emails. So far there is no reason to think she is a Mata Hari of any sort. But it does say something about how prominent Arab-Americans now are in US society that no one much remarked on her ethnicity when the story broke. And, who knows, her inherited culture may have had something to do with her reaction to Broadwell’s emails. Lebanon is a place where you kind of have to take threats seriously. And, reaching out to a friend in the government in a way a lot of Americans might consider inappropriate is routine in Beirut (hence seeking “wasta” or a personal connection via the shirtless FBI guy). But lots of Americans of other backgrounds might have reacted similarly.
I’m with Rachel Maddow that the FBI investigators have behaved with appalling lack of regard for the personal privacy of all these individuals, none of whom appears actually to have done anything illegal (though depending on how menacing they were, Broadwell’s threats may have crossed a line). It is not clear to me that the agency should have briefed anyone on the outside on its findings, given the personal and entirely legal character of the information discovered. The only exception here is that Broadwell may have committed a crime by using the internet to threaten Kelley, and Broadwell may have had unauthorized access to classified information via her connection to Petraeus.
( Hmm , Ms Kelley not so innocent - and look at the high octane team she has assembled . Interesting since she has not yet been accused of a crime . If what Broadwell says is true , it looks like Petraeus has more explaining to do... But we are getting more of an idea of what Jill Kelley - unpaid social liaison and honorary consul to Korea is about )
( jill Kelley and her twin sister are pieces of work ! )
TAMPA — In late September, a U.S. Marine Corps four-star general and the head of the Central Intelligence Agency sent letters to a court in Washington, D.C., testifying that a single mom in Tampa named Natalie Khawam was fit to parent her 4-year-old son.
Gen. John R. Allen praised Khawam — the twin sister of Jill Kelley, the woman who sparked an FBI investigation that exposed retired Gen. David Petraeus' affair — for her "maturity, integrity and steadfast commitment to raising her child." Petraeus told the court Khawam "dotes on her son and goes to great lengths — and great expense — to spend quality time with him."
The court had a different opinion.
"Ms. Khawam appears to lack any appreciation or respect for the importance of honesty and integrity in her interactions with her family, employers, and others with whom she comes in contact," a judge wrote after a litany of hearings and psychological evaluations. "The court fully expects that Ms. Khawam's pattern of misrepresentations about virtually everything, including the most important aspects of her life, will continue indefinitely."
She was more than $3 million in debt, records show. She had blown through four jobs in five years and sued a former employer for sex harassment. She had had three failed engagements, left her new husband and moved in with her sister where she quickly began hobnobbing with military brass and others in Tampa's elite circles.
What moved the top government brass to go to bat for a woman the court said suffers from "severe" psychological deficits? The answer can be found in Jill Kelley's social climb in the last decade, since she and her surgeon husband moved south from Philadelphia and found a niche hosting lavish parties for military brass from MacDill.
South Tampa's decades-long reputation for genteel hospitality toward the military has transformed over the past several days into a soap opera of sexual misconduct and improper emails that has already cost Petraeus his job and threatens Allen's career as well. Ground zero is not the Pentagon, but a mansion on Bayshore Boulevard inhabited by a family with lavish appetites and gigantic debts.
• • •
In the spring of 2003, the Kelleys hosted a dinner party at Tampa's Palm Restaurant to celebrate their decision to make their adopted city a permanent home. Among the select group of Tampa's business, government and military elite were Marine Lt. Gen. Michael "Rifle" DeLong, then second in command to Gen. Tommy Franks at CentCom, former Mayor Dick Greco and his wife, Linda, and retired Tampa Tribune columnist Tom McEwen.
DeLong's wife, Kathy, recalls meeting Jill Kelley, 37, at a "patriotic function in Tampa."
"They (the twins) could work a room better than any politician," she said. "They're bright, fun, just who you'd want at your party."
The DeLongs began including them at base functions, "and once you're on the list, you're on the list," she said. That friendship extended to Gen. John Abizaid, who ran CentCom from July 2003 to March 2007.
"They really connected because of their shared Lebanese heritage," said DeLong.
Determined to make her footprint, Jill Kelley knocked on doors up and down Bayshore Boulevard, asking homeowners if their house was for sale. She wanted the prestigious address, and she got it. In June 2004, the couple paid $1.5 million for a 4,800-square-foot brick mansion with stately white pillars and a view of Hillsborough Bay, just six miles from MacDill Air Force Base.
Kelley's husband, it seemed, could afford the good life on his salary from Moffitt Cancer Center, where he worked in the department of surgery after a two-year fellowship.
"He was a highly talented guy. Great interpersonal skills,'' said Dr. Richard Karl, the founding medical director at Moffitt, who hired Kelley. "He and his wife were very charming when I knew them back then."
The Kelleys were known for their "extravagant parties; there was always more than you could possibly eat," he said.
Records show the Kelleys created a cancer charity in 2005. According to its 2007 tax return, The Doctor Kelley Cancer Foundation's primary purpose was to "conduct research studies into efforts to discover ways to improve the quality of life of terminally ill adult cancer patients." Natalie Khawam was also named as a director of the nonprofit. But of $157,284 raised in revenue that year, meals and entertainment accounted for more than $43,000 in expenses, legal fees more than $25,000, and automotive expenses more than $8,800. According to state corporate records, the group was dissolved in 2007. But as late as February 2010, Jill Kelley solicited contributions for the group to provide a dinner for the homeless. In an email to prospective donors, she asked for " 'in kind' donations (i.e. more food, drinks, banners, decorations)" and noted that her group was a "tax write-off."
In 2008, Kelley moved to Lakeland to start an esophageal cancer/surgical oncology program at Lakeland Regional Medical Center. He established his practice at the 200-physician Watson Clinic in Lakeland, a well-regarded practice that's one of the biggest in the area.
Soon after Petraeus arrived at MacDill in 2008, the Kelleys invited the general and his wife to a small dinner at which they introduced them to noteworthy Tampa residents, said retired Army Col. Steve Boylan, a former Petraeus aide who is acting as his unofficial spokesman.
Petraeus and his wife, Holly, became friends with the Kelleys after that. The friendship continued after the Petraeuses moved to Washington, Boylan said. When the Kelleys would go up to visit her family, the families would see each other.
Lawsuits show the Kelleys were treading water by then, when Scott Kelley was making just the minimum payment on a Visa Signature card that had accumulated a balance over $70,000 and was taking on hundreds of dollars in interest each month. According to a lawsuit filed this year, Kelley defaulted on that card in 2010, the same year Regions bank sued him and his wife over a debt in excess of $250,000. Chase sued for more than $25,000 and Regions Bank filed to foreclose on their Bayshore home. The bank said it was owed more than $1.7 million, and that it had not gotten any payments since Sept. 2009.
They defaulted on more credit cards and the lawsuits stacked up, but they continued to host parties and held tight to their friendship with Petraeus.
It was a friendship between couples, Boylan said, the kind where the families visited each other at Christmas.
"Based on my conversation with David Petraeus, he was very, very clear, very adamant: It is strictly a close friendship that grew out of their time in Tampa and continued when they moved," Boylan said. "No romantic involvement whatsoever."
Noting that he's not speaking for the military, MacDill or CentCom, Boylan said, "In many towns there are people of note who take an interest in the military community and try to support them in various ways."
• • •
When Natalie Khawam moved to her sister's house in Tampa in March 2009, she brought her own baggage, records show. She had moved south from Washington, D.C., with her infant son without her husband's permission. Grayson Wolfe would spend nearly two years fighting in court before he regained custody of his son. Khawam had changed the boy's name to John and didn't correct him when the boy called Scott Kelley "Dad," court records show.
When her husband tried to get custody of their son, Khawam began filing allegations of domestic violence in Tampa, part of "an ever-expanding set of sensational accusations against Mr. Wolfe that are so numerous, so extraordinary, and . . . so distorted that they defy any common sense view of reality," a judge wrote. She accused Wolfe, a lawyer, of repeatedly putting a gun to her head, pushing and hitting her on a daily basis, ripping the nursing child from her bosom, shaking the child and throwing shoes, dishes and porcelain figurines at her and the child. She accused Wolfe of impregnating her through "non-consensual" sex, but she sent Wolfe an email a month after the pregnancy saying she was "Looking forward to phone sex, with an exclamation point."
Khawam, who worked as a lawyer at the Tampa law firm Cohen, Foster and Romine, sued her employer, accusing the firm's business consultant of sexual harassment. The firm's founder Barry Cohen shot back with a giant stack of evidence to the contrary, accusing Khawam of "fraud." He presented Khawam's bankruptcy filing from April 2012, which showed she owed $3.6 million to creditors, lawyers and others who had loaned her money. The filing showed she owed a lawyer in Rhode Island $300,000, a man in St. Petersburg $600,000 and Scott and Jill Kelley $800,000.
Arnold Levine, another Tampa lawyer, intervened in Cohen's lawsuit because he had yet to be paid for representing Khawam, as well. He represented the Kelleys, too, and says he wasn't paid for that work, either.
But Cohen had trouble serving a subpoena on Khawam. A memo from his process server provided to the Times lays out a strange set of events the morning of Aug. 8. The private investigator noted that four cars were in the driveway, but no one would answer the door. Several people came and went but wouldn't say who they were and wouldn't accept the papers. Then a man stood in front of her car, blocking her exit. Then a black SUV pulled into the driveway, blocking the investigator. Two men climbed out and the investigator called 911. "An officer from TPD appeared by the two men who I was told were FBI agents," she wrote. "The owner of the house came out . . . screaming that I assaulted her guests and employees."
The officer told the investigator that screaming woman was Jill Kelley.
• • •
Petraeus resigned Friday. Allen's nomination to head NATO forces is on hold. An FBI investigation has surfaced emails from Petraeus' lover and biographer to Jill Kelley. The same investigation found that Allen had sent "inappropriate" emails to Kelley.
Boylan, who was in touch with Petraeus on Tuesday, said "this is not easy" but at this point "his sole focus right now is to his family, doing whatever needs to be done at whatever speed it needs to be done."
"He knows how much he has hurt his family," Boylan said. "He regrets immensely the error in judgment and poor decision that he made. He hurt his family terribly. He gave up a fantastic position with a great organization. That's just hard to walk away from without feeling a lot of regrets."
Jill Kelley and someone else at her house made five calls to Tampa police on Sunday and Monday asking for help with trespassers. She also complained about reporters and cameramen blocking access to her home. In one call, Kelley invokes some sort of title and asks about protection.
"I'm an honorary consul general, so I have involability [sic] . . . They should not be able to block my property. I don't know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well."
Kelley called back later to complain about people in and around her property.
"There's a man at my front door. He just won't leave. . . . There's trespassers bashing on my door. . . . They're trying to push the door open. They won't leave."
American commander in Afghanistan Gen. John Allen, facing an internal investigation for "inappropriate communications" with a woman at the heart of the David Petraeus controversy, engaged in much more than "flirtatious" behavior, sources tell Fox News -- with one official even likening the email exchanges to "phone sex."
The investigation focuses on emails between Allen and Jill Kelley, a close friend of the Petraeus family. Kelley was the woman who originally notified the FBI when she received threatening emails from Petraeus' mistress Paula Broadwell -- and that investigation later uncovered the affair.
One senior defense official initially described the nature of the communications between Allen and Kelley as "flirtatious." However, two U.S. officials later told Fox News that Allen's contact with Kelley was more than just general flirting. One official described some of the emails as sexually explicit and the “equivalent of phone sex over email.”
Another official said Panetta would not have referred this matter to an internal investigator without knowing the devastating impact this would have on war efforts and on Allen and his family.
"This was a serious enough matter that those who examined the emails thought it should be referred to the secretary of defense, and the secretary made the decision to turn it over to the inspector general," the official said. "He would not have thrust this into the limelight without good cause."
Pentagon spokesman George Little declined to comment on the nature of the communications, citing the pending investigation.
Sources said officials are reviewing 20,000 to 30,000 pages of documents -- mostly emails -- between 2010 and 2012. One official would only say "there is the distinct possibility" this case is connected to the Petraeus investigation.
That investigation, it appears, it still ongoing. FBI agents on Monday conducted a search of Broadwell's home in Charlotte, N.C. FBI agents appeared at Broadwell's home carrying the kinds of cardboard boxes often used for evidence gathering during a search. They walked through the open garage of Broadwell's house and knocked at a side door before entering the home, but refused to talk to the media.
Further, Fox News confirms that the FBI agent who originally spurred the Petraeus investigation was taken off the case because authorities grew concerned about his relationship with Kelley. Kelley had alerted this agent to her concerns about the harassing emails from the start, but the agent was removed from the case over the summer because of his behavior, which included sending shirtless photos of himself to Kelley. He now faces an internal investigation.
As for Allen, for now he will remain the head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. However, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has referred the case to the Pentagon's inspector general's office for investigation. For the time being, Allen's nomination to be commander of U.S. European Command and commander of NATO forces in Europe is on hold. Allen was scheduled to have a nomination hearing for that position Thursday and had been expected to take that new post in early 2013, if confirmed by the Senate, as had been widely expected.
The senior defense official who described the case would not say whether the communications between Allen and Kelley involved sexual matters or whether they are thought to include unauthorized disclosures of classified information or any criminal activity. He said he did not know whether Petraeus is mentioned in the emails.
"Gen. Allen disputes that he has engaged in any wrongdoing in this matter," the official said. He said Allen currently is in Washington.
Panetta also said he wants the Senate Armed Services Committee to act promptly on Obama's nomination of Gen. Joseph Dunford to succeed Allen as commander in Afghanistan. That nomination was made several weeks ago. Dunford's hearing is also scheduled for Thursday.
The revelations about Allen are the latest twist in a scandal that has captivated the American public since Petraeus abruptly resigned.
Fox News confirmed Sunday that the investigation that led to Petraeus' resignation started when Kelley, 37, alerted the FBI about harassing emails, which appeared to be an attempt to blackmail Petraeus, sources said. It was widely reported that Broadwell was behind the emails, but early indications suggested that they might not have come from her.
However, Fox News confirmed Monday from multiple law enforcement sources that the emails came from multiple dummy accounts, which were traced back to Broadwell. The reason the FBI had jurisdiction is because cyber-harassment is a federal crime, and once the FBI got to Broadwell they uncovered the affair.
Kelley, a Tampa, Fla., resident who is married with three children, and sister Natalie are close friends of the Petraeus' and spent holidays together. Sources close to the family told Fox News she was not having an affair with Petraeus.
Kelley has been described as an unpaid social liaison at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., which is headquarters to the U.S. Central Command. She is not a U.S. government employee.
Kelley issued a statement through Smith and Company, a Washington communications and crisis management firm, before the Allen news broke, asking for privacy. She said she respects Petraeus' privacy and wants the same for her own family.
Allen, a four-star Marine general, succeeded Petraeus as the top American commander in Afghanistan in July 2011.
Allen was Deputy Commander of Central Command, based in Tampa, prior to taking over in Afghanistan. He also is a veteran of the Iraq war.
( Allen may not have had an affair - certainly exhibited extremely poor judgment at a minimum.. )
WASHINGTON (AP) — The sex scandal that felled CIA Director David Petraeus widened Tuesday to ensnare the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, in a suddenly public drama involving a Tampa socialite, a jealous rival, a twin sister in a messy custody dispute and flirty emails.
The improbable story — by turns tragic and silly — could have major consequences, unfolding at a critical time in the Afghan war effort and just as President Barack Obama was hoping for a smooth transition in his national security team.
Obama put a hold on the nomination of Afghan war chief Allen to become the next commander of U.S. European Command as well as the NATO supreme allied commander in Europe after investigators uncovered 20,000-plus pages of documents and emails that involved Allen and Tampa socialite Jill Kelley. Some of the material was characterized as “flirtatious.”
Allen, 58, insisted he’d done nothing wrong and worked to save his imperiled career.
Kelley, 37, who had worked herself into the center of the military social scene in Florida without having any official role, emerged as a central figure in the still-unfolding story that has embroiled two of the nation’s most influential and respected military leaders.
Known as a close friend of retired Gen. Petraeus, Kelley triggered the FBI investigation that led to his downfall as CIA director when she complained about getting anonymous, harassing emails. They turned out to have been written by Petraeus’ mistress, Paula Broadwell, who apparently was jealous of the attention the general paid to Kelley. Petraeus acknowledged the affair and resigned Friday.
In the course of looking into that situation, federal investigators came across what a Pentagon official called “inappropriate communications” between Allen and Kelley, both of them married.
According to one senior U.S. official, the emails between Allen and Kelley were not sexually explicit or seductive but included pet names such as “sweetheart” or “dear.” The official said that while much of the communication — including some from Allen to Kelley — is relatively innocuous, some could be construed as unprofessional and would cause a reasonable person to take notice.
That official, as well as others who described the investigation, requested anonymity on grounds that they were not authorized to discuss the situation publicly.
The FBI decided to turn over the Allen information to the military once the bureau recognized it contained no evidence of a federal crime, according to a federal law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record and demanded anonymity. Adultery, however, is a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Allen was not suspended from his military position, even though his nomination for promotion is on hold. The White House will soon be deciding how many troops will remain in Afghanistan — and for what purposes — after the U.S.-led combat operation ends in 2014. Allen has provided his recommendations to the White House and is key to those discussions.
Still more subplots in the story emerged Tuesday with news that both Allen and Petraeus wrote letters last September on behalf of Jill Kelley’s twin sister, Natalie Khawam, in a messy custody dispute. In 2011, a judge had denied Khawam custody of her 3-year-old son, saying she “appears to lack any appreciation or respect for the importance of honesty and integrity in her interactions with her family, employers and others with whom she comes in contact.”
Allen, in his letter, wrote of Khawam’s “maturity, integrity and steadfast commitment to raising her child.” Petraeus wrote that he’d been host for the Kelley family and Khawam and her son for Christmas dinner, and he described a loving relationship with her son. That also indicated how close the Petraeus and Kelley families had been.
Kelley served as a sort of social ambassador for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, hosting parties for Petraeus when he was commander there from 2008-10.
The friendship with the Petraeus began when they arrived in Tampa, and the Kelleys threw a welcome party at their home, a short distance from Central Command headquarters, introducing the new chief and his wife, Holly, to Tampa’s elite, according to staffers who served with Petraeus.
Such friendships among senior military commanders and prominent local community leaders are common at any base, a relationship where the officers invite local people to exclusive military events and functions, and the invitees respond by providing private funding to support troops with everything from morale-boosting “Welcome Home” parades to assistance for injured combat veterans.
Petraeus aides say Jill Kelley took it to another level, winning the title of “honorary ambassador” from the countries involved in the Afghan war for her extensive entertaining at her home on behalf of the command, throwing parties that raised her social status in Tampa through the reflected glow of the four-star general in attendance.
Petraeus even honored Kelley and her husband with an award given to them in a special ceremony at the Pentagon just before he left the military for his post at the CIA, an aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter publicly.
White House spokesman Jay Carney, employing understatement, was asked about the revelations involving Allen and said Obama “wouldn’t call it welcome” news. Carney described Obama as “surprised” by the earlier news about Petraeus.
As he prepares for a second term, the president has hoped to run a methodical transition process, with the goal of keeping many Cabinet members and other high-ranking officials in their posts until successors are confirmed, or at least nominated. Petraeus’ resignation has disrupted those plans, leaving Obama with an immediate vacancy to fill and raising questions about how much other immediate shake-up the national security team can handle.
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Obama put Allen’s nomination on hold at the request of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. The general succeeded Petraeus as the top American commander in Afghanistan in July 2011 and has been working with Panetta on how best to pace the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Vietor said in a written statement that Obama “remains focused on fully supporting our extraordinary troops and coalition partners in Afghanistan, who Gen. Allen continues to lead as he has so ably done for over a year.”
The unfolding story caused a commotion on Capitol Hill as well, as lawmakers complained that they should have been told about the investigation earlier.
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called the latest revelations “a Greek tragedy.”
Acting CIA Director Michael Morell met with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and ranking Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia on Tuesday, to explain the CIA’s understanding of events that led Petraeus to resign. That session came ahead of meetings with the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, according to congressional aides.
The chairman and top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee said their panel would go ahead with Thursday’s scheduled confirmation hearing on the nomination of Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, who is to replace Allen as commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, if Allen is indeed promoted.
Even though Petraeus has stepped down, Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said the retired general should testify about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, “if he has relevant information.” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said it was “absolutely imperative” that Petraeus testify, since he was CIA director during the attack and visited Libya afterward.
Asked by reporters if there was a national security breach with the Petraeus affair, Feinstein said: “We’re going to hold an inquiry. We’re going to look at things. I have no evidence that there was at this time.” She said she expected Petraeus to testify — “if not this week, then another week. That’s for sure.”
Feinstein said did not believe that either Allen or Petraeus would release classified information.
The FBI looked into whether a separate set of emails between Petraeus and Broadwell might involve any security breach and concluded it did not.
The FBI searched Broadwell’s home in Charlotte, N.C., Monday night, with her consent, according to a federal law enforcement official, who requested anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak on the record about the investigation.
The official said the FBI just wanted to make sure there were no classified documents out of government custody.
The charity was called the Doctor Kelley Cancer Foundation. It was run out of the couple's house--the same house where they famously and lavishly entertained military brass like General Petraeus and General John Allen.
THE CORPORATION IS ORGANIZED AND SHALL BE OPERATED EXCLUSIVELY TO CONDUCT CANCER RESEARCH AND TO GRANT WISHES TO TERMINALLY ILL ADULT CANCER PATIENTS.
The charity spent ~$157,000 in 2007. This spending went to the following expenses:
$43,317 for "Meals and Entertainment"
$38,610 for "Travel"
$25,013 for legal fees
$8,822 for "Automotive Expenses"
$12,807 for office expenses and supplies, and
$7,854 on utilities and telephones
It's not clear where the $157,000 the charity spent came from. It's also not clear, exactly, what these expenditures had to do with cancer research and ill-patient wishes.
In any event, after the charity spent the money, it went bankrupt.
Whatever this short-lived "Cancer Foundation" spent its money on, we'd bet the money that went into it was deducted from someone's tax return.
The media is abuzz with the Petraeus revelation and has apparently taken up residence on Jill Kelley's lawn, or near it, too near it for her taste.
According a local Tampa Fox News report, Jill Kelley "has called police to her home several times in the last few days, and at least once tried to invoke "diplomatic protection.'"
From the report:
"You know, I don't know if by any chance, because I'm an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property. I don't know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well," she told the 911 dispatcher, who agreed to pass the information along to police.
Diplomatic immunity guarantees the protection and sanctity of a diplomat's premises, which is one reason why she would try to invoke diplomatic security. Still, because she has diplomatic plates she thinks she can invoke diplomatic security, which raises the question: Why does a supposed Tampa 'socialite' have diplomatic credentials?
Both Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. John Allen intervened in the same nasty child custody battle involving Natalie Khawam, the “psychologically unstable” twin sister of Jill Kelley, whose bombshell claims of being threatened by Petraeus' lover led to the top spy’s resignation last week, the Post has learned.
Allen, the four-star general top commander in Afghanistan, was revealed last night to have exchanged thousands of pages of of emails with Kelley, who went to the feds after receiving threatening e-mails from Paula Broadwell, the married mistress of Petraeus.
REUTERS
Gen. John Allen
AP
Jill Kelley leaves her home Monday.
A judge noted in the file that Khawam "has attached letters from Gen. David H. Petraeus averring to her ability to appropriately parent the child, and is prepared to present corroborating testimony at trial."
And in court documents filed by Kelley's sister Natalie Khawam, she name-drops both Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island -- who both have ties to a Providence, RI, lawyer/Democratic fundraiser who loaned a whopping $300,000 to Khawam.
A spokesman for Whitehouse today that lawyer, Gerald Harrington, has dated and "may have been engaged to Khawam." Harrington has not returned a call seeking comment.
Khawam claimed in a July 12 letter to her estranged husband that she took their now 4-year-old son "on vacation last year to Martha Vineyard," where their son and "I had a great time at the DSCC [Democratic Senate Campaign Committee] event."
"Sen. John Kerry asked if [her son] would be coming again this year," Khawam wrote. "[Their son] was a superstar at the DSCC last year."
A spokeswoman for Kerry – who the Washington Post reports is being considered as President Obama's next secretary of defense -- in an email comment wrote, "Senator Kerry’s friend Jerry Harrington introduced him to his girlfriend (Natalie) at a DSCC event."
Also filed in that court case by Khawam is a letter, on United States Senate stationary, from Whitehouse, who like Kerry is a Democrat.
That letter was written to Harrington, who has been a fundraiser for Kerry and other Democrats out of Rhode Island. Harrington, according to Khawam's federal bankruptcy filing earlier this year in Florida, gave her a personal loan of $300,000.
"Derry Gerry," Whitehouse wrote. "I am excited to hear that you and [Khawam's son] may be coming to the Family Clambake. That would be terrific! All the best wishes, Sheldon."
A related email from Khawam to her estranged husband -- from whom she was seeking permission to take their son to Whitehouse's annual fundraising clambake -- said that their son "knows Sen. Whitehouse and his family from spending time together with them last summer in Newport, R.I.
A spokesman for Whitehouse confirmed that the senator had written that invitation at the request of Harrington.
"Gerry Harrington is a pretty prominent political activist in Rhode Island," said Whitehouse's spokesman "I think Gerry has either been dating or may have been engaged to Natalie . . . Sheldon has met Natalie through Gerry."
REUTERS
Gen. John Allen
AP
Jill Kelley leaves her home Monday.
Both Petraeus and Allen apparently decided intervene in the same nasty court fight involving Khawam's 4-year-old, siding with the mother who, according to court documents, took her son to Florida from Washington, DC, when he was four months old after a heated argument with her husband.
The generals' letters to the court — written in the past two months — supported a motion to overturn a ruling made nearly a year earlier by a judge who resoundingly denied custody to Khawam, because of serious reservations about her honesty and mental stability, court records show.
The father, Grayson Wolfe, was unable to see the child for more than a year, according to court documents. The judge overseeing the case cited Khawam with “outrageous conduct,” “bad faith litigation tactics,” and “illogical thinking,” awarding full custody to the father and socking the mom with $350,000 in legal fees in 2011.
The judge gave Wolfe sole custody of the couple’s son after finding that Khawam, a lawyer, repeatedly lied under oath and filed bogus domestic-violence and child-abuse claims against her husband after their one-year marriage began crumbling in 2009.
That judge also found that Khawam routinely defied court orders to let the child see his dad and sent harassing e-mails to Wolfe’s friends and business partners that “excoriated Mr. Wolfe for being a horrible father and husband.”
The judge blasted Khawam for giving false evidence, and noted that a court-ordered shrink had found her domestic-violence allegations to be “part of an ever-expanding set of sensational accusations . . . that are so numerous, so extraordinary and [so] distorted that they defy any common-sense view of reality.”
The judge also noted that she “is a psychologically unstable person.”
“My wife and I have known Natalie for approximately three years, getting to know her while serving in Tampa, Florida, through our friendship with Dr. and Mrs. Scott Kelley,”Petraeus wrote in a letterintroduced as part of a legal motion by Natalie Khawam’s lawyer.
“It is clear to me that [child’s name] would benefit from much more time with his Mother and from removal of the burdensome restrictions imposed on her when she does get to spend time with him,” Petraeus wrote.
Petraeus said he had observed Natalie and her son, “including when we hosted them and the Kelley family for Christmas dinner this past year. In each case, we have seen a very loving relationship – a Mother working hard to provide her son enjoyable, educational and developmental experiences,” he wrote.
“In view of this, it is unfortunate, in my view, that her interaction with her son has been so limited by the custody settlement,” Petraeus continued.
A separate letter from Allen is dated Sept. 22, two days after the Petraeus letter. “Natalie clearly loves [child’s name] and cherishes each and every opportunity she has to spend time with him. She is a dedicated mother,” Allen wrote. “In light of Natalie’s maturity, integrity and steadfast commitment to raising her child, I humbly request your reconsideration of the existing mandated custody settlement,” Allen wrote. He said he got to observe the mother and child “at command social functions.”
He signed his letter: “Gen. John R. Allen, General, United States Marine Corps,” on what appears to be official letterhead.
Allen’s letter does not mention any romantic relationship between himself and Kelley.
Petraeus, who just stepped down as CIA chief, signed his letter: “General, U.S. Army (Retired).
Politico reported that Gen. Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan and a former top deputy to Petraeus at Central Command in Tampa, exchanged “potentially inappropriate” emails with Kelley, citing a senior defense official.
Jill Kelley, social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base, is mystery woman Paula Broadwell harassed via email leading to FBI probe
Jill Kelley, 37, of Tampa, Fla., reportedly alerted the FBI several months ago about threatening emails she had received from Petraeus alleged mistress, biographer Paula Broadwell, a senior military official told the Associated Press.
STEPHEN THERIAULT
Jill Kelley, 37, (right) is believed to be the 'mystery woman' who blew the lid off former CIA Director David Petraeus’ career-ending affair. She is seen here with Petraeus' wife Holly Petraeus (left) and her husband Scott Kelley at a party.
The mystery woman who blew the lid off former CIA Director David Petraeus’ career-ending affair is also tied to the military — a sexy social liaison for an Air Force base in Tampa who says she and the ex-general are just “friends.”
Jill Kelley, 37, a married mother of three from the Gulf Coast city, alerted the FBI several months ago after receiving emails from Petraeus’ alleged mistress, biographer Paula Broadwell, warning the stunning Tampa socialite to “stay away from” the
spymaster, according to sources with knowledge of the messages.
Jill Kelley with Vice Admiral Robert Harward and husband, Scott, in Tampa Fla.
The raven-haired Kelley, who has an unpaid position as a social planner for MacDill Air Force Base, insisted in a statement Sunday her relationship with the retired four-star general and ex-CIA director was platonic, dating to when Petraeus ran the U.S. Central Command from the base.
“We and our family have been friends with Gen. Petraeus and his f
amily for over five years,” Kelley said. “We respect his
family’s privacy and want the same for us and our three children.”
Kelley is seen with Petraeus and his wife Holly in 2010. (From L to R) Natalie Khawam, Gen. David Petraeus, Dr. Scott Kelley, his wife Jill Kelley and Holly Petraeus, the wife of Gen. David Petraeus, watching the Gasparilla parade from the comfort of tent on the Kelleys front lawn on Jan. 30. 2010, in Tampa, Fla.
But Broadwell’s father said Sunday his daughter is the victim of character assassination and implied the bombshell story is just a smoke screen for something bigger.
“This is about something else entirely, and the truth will come out,” Broadwell’s dad, Paul Krantz, told the Daily News outside his home in Bismarck, N.D.
“There is a lot more that is going to come out,” said Krantz, claiming he was not allowed to elaborate. “You wait and see. There’s a lot more here than meets the eye.”
PERTH, Australia — The FBI probe into the sex scandal that prompted CIA Director David Petraeus to resign has expanded to ensnare Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced early Tuesday.
According to a senior U.S. defense official, the FBI has uncovered between 20,000 and 30,000 documents — most of them e-mails — of “potentially inappropriate” communication between Allen and Jill Kelley, the 37-year-old Tampa woman whose report of harrassment by a person who turned out to be Petraeus’s mistress ultimately led to Petraeus’s downfall.
Allen, a Marine, succeeded Petraeus as thetop allied commander in Afghanistan in July 2011. He also served as Petraeus’s deputy when both generals led the military’s Tampa-based Central Command from 2008 until 2010.
The FBI first notified the Pentagon of its investigation into Allen’s communications with Kelley on Sunday evening, according to the senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the pending case.
In response, Pentagon chief Leon E. Panetta referred the investigation on Monday to the Defense Department’s Inspector General for further review, according to a statement released by Panetta early Tuesday as he was traveling to Australia.
The scrutiny of Allen’s personal behavior extends a remarkable string of failures and misconduct allegations that have dogged the last four commanders of the Afghan war. Petraeus took the job in 2010, after President Obama fired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal for cooperating with a Rolling Stone profile that quoted McChrystal’s aides as mocking the president, Vice President Biden and other civilian leaders.
McChrystal had lasted only a year after taking over from Gen. David McKiernan, who was sacked when former Defense Secretary Robert Gates lost confidence in his ability to fight the war.
The unfolding scandal has shaken President Obama’s national-security staff and upended his carefully chosen plans for filling senior military and intelligence leadership jobs in his second term.
It also further calls into question the personal behavior of two of the U.S. military’s highest-ranking and most respected figures, who apparently ignored concerns about the highly sensitive nature of their positions as they embraced personal relationships with younger women who were not their wives.
Petraeus’s fall from grace shocked the CIA but especially stunned his former colleagues in the Army, where he was considered one of the most brilliant and influential commanders of his generation. Allen, a Marine, was likewise seen as an intellectual and upstanding role model who first made his mark as a general in Iraq during the George W. Bush administration and later earned Obama’s confidence.
In his statement, Panetta said Allen would remain as commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan for now, “while the matter is under investigation and before the facts are determined.” The senior defense official said Allen “disputes that he has engaged in any wrongdoing,” but would not elaborate.
But his time as commander in Afghanistan may be short. Panetta has also asked the Senate to expedite the confirmation of his likely successor, Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford.
Obama had nominated Dunford last month to replace Allen. Coincidentally, the Senate Armed Services Committee had already scheduled his confirmation hearing for Thursday. Panetta said he has asked the Senate to expedite its review of Dunford’s nomination.
Allen had been simultaneously nominated by the White House to take over as chief of the military’s European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. That nomination is now on hold, Panetta said, pending the outcome of the probe of his communications with Kelley.
“At the request of the secretary of defense, the president has put on hold his nomination of General Allen,” Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in a statement. “The president remains focused on fully supporting our extraordinary troops and coalition partners in Afghanistan, who General Allen continues to lead as he has so ably done for over a year.”
The latest twist in the scandal became public early Tuesday, as Panetta was flying here fortwo days of scheduled meetings with Australian officials. His staff abruptly distributed a prepared statement to reporters traveling with him on his military aircraft.
Panetta had met with the journalists a few hours beforehand for a short press conference about his trip to Asia and made brief comments about Petraeus’s resignation — “I think he took the right step” — but did not reveal that he had been told a day earlier that the FBI was also investigating Allen.
After his arrival in Perth, Panetta ignored a shouted question from a reporter about the Allen investigation as he entered a hotel for a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Pentagon officials said they notified the leaders of the Senate and House armed services committees about the probe of Allen’s behavior late Monday night, a few hours before Panetta issued his statement. Panetta did not shed any light into the nature of the probe; he said Allen “is entitled to due process in this matter.”
Allen was in Washington when the Pentagon learned about the FBI investigation, the senior defense official said. He was informed of the FBI and Defense Department Inspector General probes by Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Dempsey, who is in Perth along with Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, phoned Allen from Australia Monday evening, Washington time, according to a senior U.S. military official.
Although the FBI has shared the e-mails and other documents with the Pentagon, the senior defense official would not describe them in detail or say whether they were romantic in nature.
“We are concerned about inappropriate communications,” the official said. “We are not going to speculate as to what is contained in these documents.”
It was unclear whether Allen could be subject to criminal prosecution. Under the military’s Uniform Code of Military Justice, adultery is classified as a crime.
Allen, 58, attended Flint Hill School in Oakton, Va. before graduating from the Naval Academy in Annapolis. He is married and has two grown daughters. His wife, Kathy, appeared with him in public in March at a Senate hearing on the war in Afghanistan.
Kelley’s name surfaced in the Petraeus scandal over the weekend after U.S. officials disclosed that she contacted the FBI last summer to complain that she had received anonymous and threatening e-mails about her relationship with the CIA director.
An FBI field investigation determined that the sender of the e-mails was Paula Broadwell, a former Army officer and Petraeus’s biographer. Broadwell and Petraeus later admitted to the FBI that they had engaged in an affair.
Associates of Petraeus have said he was not romantically involved with Kelley although they acknowledged she was a close friend of Petraeus and his wife.
The senior defense official said the voluminous collection of e-mails sent between Allen and Kelley occurred between 2010 and this year, but did not give details. The official also declined to say whether Allen sent or received any of the messages from his military or government e-mail accounts, or if classified material was compromised.
Carmen Romero, a NATO spokeswoman, said leaders of the military alliance were notified by the U.S. government about the investigations into Allen but declined to comment on the case or on whether the general should remain in command of coalition troops in Afghanistan.
Marine Gen. John R. Allen, the four-star U.S. commander of the war in Afghanistan, exchanged thousands of “potentially inappropriate” emails with Jill Kelley, the Tampa woman who claimed to have been harassed by the ex-mistress of former CIA Director David Petraeus, a senior defense official told POLITICO early Tuesday.
Allen, 58 and married, was nominated in October by President Barack Obama to be Supreme Allied Commander Europe and commander of the U.S. European Command. That nomination is now on hold, but Allen will remain commander of U.S. forces and the NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, the official said.
The FBI notified the Defense Department on Sunday of “potentially inappropriate communications” between Allen and Kelley, and turned over to Pentagon lawyers 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails exchanged by the two from 2010 to 2012.
The email web has now ensnared two of the biggest stars of the U.S. national-security establishment, and two of the commanders in America’s longest war. Allen succeeded Petraeus as commander in Afghanistan in July 2011. Before that, Allen had been based in Tampa as deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command.
From late 2008 until mid-2010, Allen was deputy commander at CENTCOM while Petraeus was commander.
Kelley, 37, who had complained of threatening emails from Petraeus biographer Paula Broadwell, has been described as a Tampa socialite and friend of Petraeus who was viewed by Broadwell as a potential romantic rival.
Kelley’s complaint to an FBI agent about the emails touched off the investigation that led to the resignation of Petraeus, 60, on Friday.
Allen holds one of the highest profile and most sensitive positions in the military, consulting with President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Afghan President Hamid Karzai as the U.S. prepares to transition control of the country’s security to Afghans. The U.S. has about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan, and the total NATO force numbers about 100,000.
Panetta, now on an Asia-Pacific swing, was flying from Hawaii on Sunday when the FBI contacted his general counsel, who was aboard the plane, about the emails at about 5 p.m. ET Sunday. The secretary’s senior advisers immediately told him of the call, and the White House was also notified, the official said.
“Preliminary review of the documents raised enough concerns about inappropriate communications that the prudent step was to initiate an investigation,” the official said. “General Allen has disputed any wrongdoing in this matter. The department’s very strong intention is that he receive a fair hearing. He will remain commander of ISAF while we look at this matter further.”
Panetta asked that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, be notified, and Pentagon lawyers began reviewing the emails provided by the FBI. Around noon Monday, the matter was referred to the department’s inspector general, and a delay was sought in the nomination.
Allen’s confirmation hearing for Supreme Allied Commander had been set for Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Allen, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1976, is based in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, but is currently in Washington, where he was preparing for the hearing, the official said.
The department disclosed the investigation to the press as Panetta flew from Honolulu to Perth, Australia, for a defense summit.
Officials expect that Allen will return to lead the fight, the official told POLITICO.
“Just because there are allegations out there doesn’t mean you pull a commander,” the official said. “The picture hasn’t been filled in. We believe that it’s prudent for the war effort to maintain his leadership while this matter is being reviewed. If we learn new information that causes us to adjust course, we will.”
On Monday evening, the Pentagon disclosed the investigation to Senate Armed Service Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and other members of the committee, and the House Armed Services Committee, with the Senate calls complete by 10:15 p.m. and the House calls complete by 11 p.m.
When Allen was nominated in October, Obama said in a written statement: “I have personally relied on his counsel and am grateful for his devotion to our national security and to the safety of the men and women with whom he serves. Under General Allen’s command, we have made important progress towards our core goal of defeating Al Qaeda and ensuring they can never return to a sovereign Afghanistan.“
At the same time, Gen. Joseph Dunford was nominated to succeed Allen as ISAF commander. Dunford is currently the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. His confirmation hearing was set for the same time as Allen’s — Thursday at 9:30 a.m. Allen, who has been commander in Afghanistan since July 2011, was to replace Adm. Jim Stavridis in the spring.
