Former four-star General David Petraeus said he would serve in the next administration if President-elect Donald J. Trump offers him a position. But he admitted he’s damaged good due to felony charges. Petraeus barely lost his freedom when he was charged with providing classified information to a writer with whom he was having a sexual relationship.
Because he was given a plea deal and managed to stay out of prison, it is still that President Barack Obama’s former CIA director could even qualify for a security clearance to enable him to work in the Trump administration.
“I’ve been in a position before where a president has turned to me in the Oval Office in a difficult moment and … said ‘I’m asking you as your president and commander-in-chief to take command of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.’ The only response can be ‘yes, Mr. President,’” Petraeus told BBC Radio.
But the problem of the security clearance isn’t the only reason President-elect Trump should use caution is dealing with Gen. Petraeus, a man who served his country well for many years only to tarnish his reputation while working for a corrupt administration. There is evidence that he had knowledge of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s shenanigans with her home-cooked Internet server and her alleged pay-to-play schemes.
“Despite his excellent military career spanning 0ver 40 years starting with his graduation from West Point as a distinguished cadet, he went on to a successful career as a professional soldier. But once he attained that fourth star he seems to have become more a politician and less a soldier,” said former U.S. Marine and NYPD detective, Sid Franes. “Gen. Petraeus has no one to blame but himself for a scandal that included adultery, classified information leaks and dishonoring his position as a top military commander. He’s damaged goods as far as serving as a part of the Trump team,” he added.
Gen. Petraeus and the Hillary Clinton Emails
About 1,000 emails between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former commander of the U.S. Army’s Central Command (CENTCOM), Gen. David Petraeus, were reported to be missing from the tens of thousands of emails turned over to the State Department by Clinton’s minions in December 2014, according to Fox News Channel’s industrious chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge last month.
Herridge reported that a number of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch provided interesting communications between two of President Barack Obama’s top officials.
The documents reveal that Mrs. Clinton — the Democratic Party’s presidential heir apparent — advised Petraeus that he should begin sending official emails to her using a private Internet address rather than her State Department “Dot-Gov” email address which is meant to be utilized for all of her government work, including emails containing classified information.
“Gen. Petraeus had to know that Mrs. Clinton was using an unauthorized email system since it was not a dot-gov web address. Again, he failed to safeguard information from prying eyes,” said former police detective and corporate security director Lawrence Fredrickson. “Since many of the Clinton emails were destroyed, we’ll never know if Secretary of Homeland Security Hillary Clinton and Gen. Petraeus sent classified material back and forth,” Fredrickson lamented.
Among the documents released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation was a heavily redacted FBI interview summary from Aug. 17, 2015. In it, a State Department worker from the Information, Programs and Services (IPS) section, which processed FOIA applications, wrote about how Petraeus’ records weren’t among the official emails turned over to IPS by the Clinton team, which included Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills, and others.
“CENTCOM records shows approximately 1,000 work-related emails between Clinton’s personal email and General David PETRAEUS, former Commander of CENTCOM and former Director of the CIA. Most of those 1,000 emails were not believed to be included in the 30,000 emails that IPS was reviewing. Out of the 30,000 emails, IPS only had a few emails from or related to PETRAEUS as well as a few related to Leon PANETTA, former Secretary of Defense,” Herridge reported based on her interview with an anonymous source.
Corruption Investigation
Judicial Watch reported that its officials released roughly 1,000 emails between Hillary Clinton and Gen. David Petraeus which were thought to be missing from the 30,000 emails provided by Clinton’s team to the State Department in December 2014, according to the newly released FBI investigative files.
Additional documents obtained through a federal lawsuit by Judicial Watch show Clinton had directed Petraeus to send her emails at her personal address, which was used for all government work during her tenure as secretary of state.
In a heavily redacted FBI interview summary from Aug. 17, 2015, a State Department employee from the Office of Information and Programs and Services (IPS), which handles Freedom of Information Act requests, discussed how Petraeus’ records apparently were not among the work-related emails provided by the former secretary’s team.
“CENTCOM records shows approximately 1,000 work-related emails between Clinton’s personal email and General David PETRAEUS, former Commander of CENTCOM and former Director of the CIA. Most of those 1,000 emails were not believed to be included in the 30,000 emails that IPS was reviewing. Out of the 30,000 emails, IPS only had a few emails from or related to PETRAEUS as well as a few related to Leon PANETTA, former Secretary of Defense.”the email correspondence between former Secretary of State Clinton and Gen. Petraeus, in which she had what she termed “blackberry blues” over her inability to use her BlackBerry inside her secure office,” Herridge reported.
“The FBI recovered many of the new emails from those that Clinton failed to turn over. These emails are government documents and not personal emails, as Clinton claims in defending her decision to not turn over 30,000 emails sent or received by her as secretary of state. The emails also show she knew about the security issues of her Black Berry use [and yet denied recalling anything about it or refused to answer questions],” according to Judicial Watch’s press statement.
Within the new batch of email exchanges, Mrs. Clinton also wrote to Petraeus, “If there is ever anything you need or want me to know, pls use this personal email address – hr15@att.blackberry.net – when corresponding [with me].”
Petraeus, who would later be the subject of his own scandal and mismanagement of classified material, during the time of the email exchange with Hillary Clinton, was in-charge of U.S. military efforts in Northeast Africa, across the Middle East, and into Central and South Asia.
His command included overseeing counter-terrorism and other operations in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Egypt.
According to the Daily Mail, a British newspaper: General Petraeus said, in wake of the Battle of Benghazi, that Hillary Clinton was “extraordinarily resolute, determined, and controlled”
Also, “Clinton reportedly became close with Petraeus after inviting him over for wine to discuss the Middle East in 2008. After Petraeus resigned from the CIA over an extramarital affair, Clinton reportedly sent a note of sympathy saying ‘I have a little experience.”’
Sample Communications Between ‘H and Petraeus’
The emails included the following:
On January 28, 2009, only one week after becoming secretary of state, Clinton sent an email to Petraeus from her non-state.gov email account apologizing for her “tardy” response to his earlier email and blaming it on what she termed “blackberry blues”:
From: H [mailto:hdr22@clintonmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 9:33 PM
To: Petraeus, David H. GEN USA
Subject: Re: Follow up
David – Sorry to be so tardy in responding. I’ve had blackberry blues. I can’t use mine all day long since my whole office is a SCIF [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility]. I don’t yet have a computer and I had to change my address and lost some of my traffic.
(The State Department represented to a federal court that Hillary Clinton did not have a State Department computer.)
Shortly before taking office, Clinton emailed Petraeus asking that he use only her personal email account when contacting her. At the time, Petraeus was the Commander of the United States Central Command:
From: hr15@att.blackberry.net
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2009 3:57 PM
To: Petraeus, David H. GEN USA
Subject: Follow up
Dear Dave,
Thanks for giving me so much of your time the last two nights. I appreciated our conversations and enjoyed the chance to see you and Richard becoming acquainted. I’m looking forward to working w you both. If there is ever anything you need or want me to know, pls use this personal email address. All the best, Hillary.
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