He has been married to Holly Petraeus, an assistant director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for 37 years.
Paula Broadwell, the author of Petraeus' biography, "All In," is now under investigation by the FBI: her role gave her access to his email, and to the the general in person in Afghanistan.
Petraeus was due to testify in Washington about Benghazi next week.
Some are questioning the timing of his resignation, believing that it is political in nature: did the White House stall the bad news until the election was won? Is there a Libya connection?
The woman with whom he had the affair has been identified as the aforementioned biographer Paula Broadwell, who was, uh, embedded with him in Afghanistan.
Greg Miller, intelligence reporter for the Washington Post, tweets: "Officials confirm Petraeus affair surfaced during FBI probe of his email. He called [National Security Advisor Thomas] Donilon Thursday asking for time with the president."
Just last week, the Daily Beast published an excerpt from Broadwell's book. The excerpt was titled, "General David Petraeus's Rules for Living." Among those rules:
"We all will make mistakes. The key is to recognize them and admit them, to learn from them, and to take off the rear view mirrors, drive on and avoid making them again."
Michael J. Morell, the CIA's deputy director, will take over as acting director.
The account at Danger Room is worth reading for a deeper look.
Joshua Hersh @joshuahersh
Ah the classic spurned lover tries to hack your email, except you're the director of the CIA, so the FBI notices, gambit.
9 Nov 12
pourmecoffee
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@pourmecoffee
It's your time to shine, conspiracy theorists!
9 Nov 12
Kathy Griffin
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@kathygriffin
"Does Don't Ask Don't Tell cover affairs? No? I am SO fucked." - Gen. Petraeus
9 Nov 12
joshuafoust @joshuafoust
I'm just saying: remember Tarok Kolache registan.net/2011/01/13/the…
9 Nov 12
WhiteHousePressCorps @whpresscorps
.@PressSec: If FBI Dir Mueller knew of the Petraeus affair before the election, why was the President informed the day after the election?
9 Nov 12
Andy Borowitz
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@BorowitzReport
I miss the good old days, when CIA directors just fucked America.
9 Nov 12
*** Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED
http://boingboing.net/2012/11/09/cia-chief-petraeus-steps-down.html
