Paula Broadwell Not Charged With Cyber-Stalking Jill Kelley But Classified Info Still An Issue
Paula Broadwell, whose extra-marital affair with David Petraeus forced him to step down as CIA director, will not be charged with cyber-stalking Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, a family friend of Petraeus', federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Broadwell, 40, was accused of sending harassing e-mails to Kelley, whom she believed threatened her relationship with Petraeus, 60. Kelley reported the disturbing e-emails to authorities and investigation into the matter not only revealed that Broadwell sent the messages, but her e-mail correspondents proved she had an ongoing extra-marital affair with Petraeus, who has been married for 38 years to Holly Petraeus.
"As the target of our investigation, we believe that it is appropriate to advise your client that our office has determined that no federal charges will be brought in the Middle District of Florida relating to alleged acts of cyber-stalking," Robert E. O'Neill, U.S. attorney in Tampa, said in a letter to Broadwell's lawyer Robert Muse, in regards to the dropped investigation.
Petraeus resigned as CIA director in November after only 14 months in the job. He and Broadwell got close as she did research for her biography about the decorated soldier and Petraeus told friends the affair began in August of 2011 after he left the army, according to ABC News.
Though she is not charged with cyber attacking another woman, Broadwell, a married mother of two, could stll face charges for mishandling classified government information, according to CBS News. CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, a former FBI national intelligence official, said on "CBS This Morning" that the biographer is "not off the hook completely."
"There's a U.S. attorney who is looking at classified documents in her computer and they'll have to ... say, 'What would this look like at trial? Would we prevail?' " he said. "In that case, it's fraught with just as many issues, in terms of she had a secret clearance, the stuff was given to her by lower-ranking people around Petraeus and it was for a project."
