President Barack Obama said Wednesday he's
withholding judgment about the handling of a federal investigation that cost
the CIA director his job, but he's seen no evidence "at this point"
that national security was damaged by the widening sex scandal.
"I have a lot of confidence generally in the FBI,"
Obama said, offering only qualified words of support for the agency. But the
president added that if the FBI had given the White House an earlier heads-up
about the inquiry into possible national security violations, he might now be
facing questions about why he'd interfered in a criminal investigation.
The inquiry that led to CIA Director David Petraeus'
resignation began last summer, but the White House didn't learn about it until
the day after the election. Two days later, on Friday, Petraeus resigned after
acknowledging he'd had an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.
As Obama spoke about the scandal from the White House,
legislators on Capitol Hill were grilling FBI and CIA officials about the same
issues: whether national security was jeopardized and why they didn't know
about the investigation sooner.
FBI Director Robert Mueller and deputy FBI Director Sean
Joyce met first with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., and ranking Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia,
then crossed the Capitol to meet with the House Intelligence Committee.
Acting CIA Director Michael Morell went before the House
panel next, after meeting Tuesday with top Senate intelligence officials to
explain the CIA's take on events that led to Petraeus' resignation.
Lawmakers are especially concerned over reports that
Broadwell had classified information on her laptop, though FBI investigators
say they concluded there was no security breach.
Obama, for his part, said he had "no evidence at this
point from what I've seen that classified information was disclosed that in any
way would have had a negative impact on our national security."
U.S.
officials say Broadwell sent harassing, anonymous emails to a woman she
apparently saw as a rival for Petraeus' affections. That woman, Jill Kelley, in
turn traded sometimes flirtatious messages with Afghan war chief Gen. John
Allen, possible evidence of another inappropriate relationship.
Officials who have seen the communications between Allen and
Kelley describe some of their emails as overly flirtatious and
"suggestive," and say their release would be embarrassing for the
general.
Word surfaced Wednesday that Kelley's pass to enter MacDill
Air Force Base has been indefinitely suspended, a decision made at the base.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Warren said she can still enter the base but
now must report to the visitor center and sign in like anyone else who doesn't
have a pass
Kelley's complaints about threatening emails triggered the
FBI investigation that led to the resignation of Petraeus and a probe into
communications between her and Allen, the top U.S.
commander in Afghanistan.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein
was asked by reporters if there was a national security breach with the
Petraeus affair and said she had "no evidence that there was at this
time."
Feinstein said Wednesday that Petraeus would testify before
Congress - but not about the affair. She said he had agreed to appear to talk
about the Libya
attack on Sept. 11 that killed the U.S.
ambassador and three other Americans, but said no date had been set.
The Senate Armed Services Committee planned to go ahead with
Thursday's scheduled confirmation hearing on the nomination of Marine Corps
Gen. Joseph Dunford, who is to replace Allen as commander of U.S.
and NATO forces in Afghanistan,
if Allen is indeed promoted.
Obama had hoped to use the afternoon news conference, his
first since his re-election, to build support for his economic proposals
heading into negotiations with lawmakers on the so-called fiscal cliff. But his
economic agenda had to share time with questions about the widening sex
scandal.
Allen has been allowed to stay in his job as commander of
the Afghan war and provide a leading voice in White House discussions on how
many troops will remain in Afghanistan
- and for what purposes - after the U.S.-led combat operation ends in 2014. The
White House said the investigation would not delay Allen's recommendation to
Obama on the next phase of the U.S.
troop drawdown from Afghanistan,
nor would it delay the president's decision on the matter. Allen's
recommendation is expected before the end of the year.
But Obama did put on hold Allen's nomination to become the
next commander of U.S. European Command as well as the NATO supreme allied commander
in Europe, at the request of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, until Pentagon
investigators are able to sift through the 20,000-plus pages of documents and
emails that involve Allen and Kelley.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday
that he had "full confidence" in Allen and looked forward to working
with him if he is ultimately confirmed.
The FBI decided to turn over the Allen information to the
military once the bureau recognized it contained no evidence of a federal
crime, according to a federal law enforcement official who was not authorized
to discuss the matter on the record and demanded anonymity. Adultery, however,
is a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Allen, 58, worked to save his imperiled career. He told Gen.
Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that he is innocent of
misconduct, according to Col. David Lapan, Dempsey's spokesman.
At a news conference Wednesday in Perth, Australia, Panetta
said, "No one should leap to any conclusions," and said he is fully
confident in Allen's ability to continue to lead in Afghanistan. He added that
putting a hold on Allen's European Command nomination was the
"prudent" thing to do.
Known as a close friend of Petraeus, Kelley, 37, triggered
the FBI investigation that led to the retired four-star general's downfall as
CIA director when she complained about getting anonymous, harassing emails.
They turned out to have been written by Broadwell, who apparently was jealous
of the attention the general paid to Kelley.
Associated Press writers Pauline Jelinek, Lolita Baldor,
Pete Yost, Adam Goldman, Jack Gillum, Larry Margasak, Julie Pace, Donna
Cassata, Jim Abrams, Robert Burns and Slobodan Lekic contributed to this
report.
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