NY Times: FBI Agent Suspected 'Politically Motivated Cover-Up' of Petraeus Case to Protect Obama

AP

Earlier today, TheBlaze reported on questions surrounding Attorney General Eric Holder's knowledge about Gen. David Petraeus' affair with Paula Broadwell. Now, the level of curiosity seems to be raising with new details surrounding the unidentified FBI agent who Jill Kelley originally reported Broadwell's threatening emails to. According to a New York Times article released this morning, the agent believed that the case was taking too long to progress after he reported it due to when he believed to be "a politically motivated cover-up to protect President Obama."

After initially receiving emails from Broadwell, Kelley apparently brought them to this official (coincidentally, in addition to allegedly exchanging inappropriate emails with Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Kelley purportedly received shirtless photos via e-mail from this particular agent). While the FBI employee was simply a channel through which the report was made, he did not have the experience to handle it and was not subsequently assigned to handle it.

That said, he continued exploring the issue on his own. The Times has more about what happened next (emphasis added):

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,” [an] 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.

AP

This claim -- that the agent suspected a cover-up was at play -- is especially fascinating. Considering ongoing questions about the Benghazi, Libya, attack as well as the general timeframe surrounding the Petraeus-Broadwell affair, additional questions are certainly on the horizon. Among these curiosities is a general reasoning behind why such extensive resources were devoted to Kelley's initial complaint.

Considering her relationship to Petraeus, though, former federal prosecutor David H. Laufman told the Times that her close friendship with the former CIA director might have made the case more of a priority. George Washington University law professor Orin S. Kerr added, though, that Kelley is well-known in Florida social circles and that the FBI has, more generally, been taking cyber threats more seriously -- two factors that might have contributed to the case's handling.

Read the entire report here.

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Related:

• NYPost: Both Gen. Petraeus and Gen. Allen Intervened on Behalf of Jill Kelly’s ‘Unstable’ Sister in Custody Battle
• New Shock: Top U.S. General Investigated for Thousands of Pages of ‘Inappropriate’ Emails to Petraeus Friend
• Bizarre Twist: Key FBI Agent on Case Actually Sent ‘Shirtless Photos’ to Petraeus Friend
• FBI Conducts ‘Consensual’ Search at Home of Petraeus’ Alleged Mistress Paula Broadwell