PETRAEUS ADMITS HE ‘ SCREWED UP’
Petraeus says he regrets the affair with his biographer, but insists that he did not share classified information with her
TAMPA, Fla. — David Petraeus admitted Thursday that he had “screwed up terribly” by having an affair with his biographer, as he prepared to emerge from hiding to be questioned by U. S. congressmen Friday.
The former CIA director said he regretted the liaison with Paula Broadwell that has thrown America’s national security establishment into crisis, but insisted that he did not pass her classified intelligence.
Describing his wife, Holly, as “far better than he deserves,” Petraeus said in an off- camera conversation with a television journalist that he was guilty of a “personal failing” and had “engaged in something dishonourable.”
“He sought to do the honourable thing in response,”
He sought to do the honourable thing in response, and that was to come forward. He was very clear that he screwed up terribly.
KYRA PHILLIPS REPORTER FOR CABLE CHANNEL HLN
recounted Kyra Phillips, a reporter for cable channel HLN, “and that was to come forward. He was very clear that he screwed up terribly.”
Petraeus, who has not been seen in public since his resignation a week ago, is due to testify Friday to congressmen investigating the Sept. 11 attack on the U. S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The retired fourstar general rejected conspiracy theories that his downfall had been engineered to prevent him from disclosing information on the attack which could be damaging to President Barack Obama.
“He said this has nothing to do with Benghazi, and he wants to testify,” said Phillips. “He will testify.”
Friday’s hearing, by the House intelligence committee, will be closed to the public. Senior Republicans, including Senator John McCain, accuse the Obama administration of failing to provide adequate consular security despite requests from Chris Stevens, the ambassador who was killed in the attack.
They also allege that the White House deliberately misled the public by stating initially that the attack had spilled over from a chaotic protest against an anti- Islamic American film, when in fact it appears to have been a co- ordinated terrorist strike by jihadists.
The FBI, which searched Broadwell’s home in North Carolina for several hours this week, is understood to have found classified material from as- yet unknown sources on her laptop. Petraeus, 60, resigned last Friday after confessing to an affair with Broadwell, a married 40- year- old author and former military officer, which was being investigated by agents from the FBI.