Lawmaker questions timing of Petraeus’ affair revelation

The head of the House Intelligence Committee suggested Sunday that President Barack Obama might have known about former CIA Director David Petraeus’ affair before the election, and said Attorney General EricHolder should address this question soon before Congress.

Rep. Mike Rogers, RMich., said Holder’s statement that the Justice Department had not informed the president before the election implied that the attorney general might have told Obama privately.

He noted that the FBI investigation of communications between Petraeus and his biographer, Paula Broadwell, arose out of concern over a counterintelligence threat.

Both Petraeus and Broadwell have said they did not share any security secrets, and investigators have said they have found no security breach.

“It probably should have been brought forward earlier as a national security threat,” Rogers said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that she wondered whether the transition from four-star general to civilian intelligence chief may have thrown Petraeus off his game and into an affair.

“You see the medals he has, you see the stars. One day he takes all of that off. He’s in a plain blue suit. … There’s no entourage. There’s no driver. He gives an order at the CIA, there’s discussion, there’s flak … and then he goes home to wash dishes,” Feinstein, a California Democrat, said onNBC’s “Meet the Press.”

While Feinstein said the resignation of “one of our best and our brightest,” was a “heartbreak,” she agreed the decision was the right one.

But she said current expectations of the military to make long and repeated tours of duty away from home need to be examined.

“Whether you are a private or a four-star, coming back into civilian society is difficult,” she said, adding “this is not an excuse.”

Rogers said Holder should go before theHouse and Senate intelligence committees to discuss when the president was told about Petraeus.

But Feinstein disagreed, saying Holder had explained to the intelligence committees there was no notification while the investigationwas underway.

The Justice Department and the FBI took this approach, she said, “so there is an ability to move ahead without any political weighing-in on any side.”

Petraeus admitted to the affair and resigned his post at the CIA three days after Obama was elected to a second termNov. 6.

ALEXWONG/GETTY PHOTO Former CIA Director David Petraeus, who resigned Nov. 9, denies he shared security secrets with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, with whom he had an extramarital affair.