Ethics

Rogue FBI Agent Was Right Wing Nut

The fact that former CIA Director David Petraeus participated in an unsavory relationship(s) is unremarkable in itself, but now we know how the FBI investigation into the matter of threatening emails was leaked to Eric Cantor before the White House was even notified.

From the NY Times

Ms. Kelley, a volunteer with wounded veterans and military families, brought her complaint to a rank-and-file agent she knew from a previous encounter with the F.B.I. office, the official also said. That agent, who had previously pursued a friendship with Ms. Kelley and had earlier sent her shirtless photographs of himself, was “just a conduit” for the complaint, he said. He had no training in cybercrime, was not part of the cyber squad handling the case and was never assigned to the investigation.

But the agent, who was not identified, continued to “nose around” about the case, and eventually his superiors “told him to stay the hell away from it, and he was not invited to briefings,” the official said. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Monday night that the agent had been barred from the case.

Later, the agent became convinced — incorrectly, the official said — that the case had stalled. Because of his “worldview,” as the official put it, he suspected a politically motivated cover-up to protect President Obama. The agent alerted Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, who called the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, on Oct. 31 to tell him of the agent’s concerns.

The FBI began their investigation after it appeared that the person responsible for sending threatening emails to Jill Kelley knew more about David Petraeus's schedule than they should have, but after the rightwing agent who alerted the bureau to the matter was shut out of the case, he contacted Eric Cantor to tell him about it.

The White House was not notified of the investigation, or Petraeus's affair, until after the election.

While we're on the subject, General John R. Allen apparently exchanged between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of emails with Jill Kelley, some of which were "flirtatious" according to the Associated Press.

According to a senior U.S. defense official, the FBI had uncovered between 20,000 and 30,000 "potentially inappropriate" pages of communication between Allen and Kelley, Petraeus's alleged other woman and the subject of the shirtless FBI agent's affection.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta released a statement early this morning, saying Allen will retain his position for now.

And they told me the gays where the ones who would compromise the integrity of the service.