Lawmakers Left Out Of The Loop; Petraeus Resignation
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. This is CNN NEWSROOM. New details now on the resignation of former CIA director David Petraeus. Since he admitted to having an extramarital affair, we have learned that the FBI was investigating the general's private e-mails months ago. That probe led to his resignation. It all started when Jill Kelly, a friend of general Petraeus, contacted the FBI about threatening e-mails she said she received from another woman. That woman, seen here, was Paula Broadwell. Now, she wrote Petraeus's biography. She said she used to jog with the general when he was leading the war in Afghanistan and now lawmakers are angry. They want to know why they're just finding out about all of this, including Senator Dianne Feinstein who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.</s>SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: We received no advanced notice. It was like a lightning bolt. The way I found out, I came back to Washington Thursday night, Friday morning the staff director told me there was a number of calls to friends about this. I called David Petraeus and I talked to the director twice. This is very hard stuff.</s>MALVEAUX: Hard stuff. Like many scandals, many different layers as well. Now, there's a video of Paula Broadwell that has gone viral on YouTube. It is revealing where she's revealing information about the CIA's investigation into the attack on the consulate in Benghazi. Check it out.</s>PAULA BROADWELL, PETRAEUS BIOGRAPHER: I don't know if a lot of you have heard this, but the CIA annex had actually -- had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner, and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try on get these prisoners back. So, that it's still being vetted.</s>MALVEAUX: Still being vetted. Then there is this. From the general's former spokesman, Steven Boylan, who spoke out about the scandal this morning.</s>STEVEN BOYLAN: I would say he is embarrassed, but he is keenly aware of the hurt and pain he has caused, and he is concerned that people understand that this one happened after he had retired from the Army. The affair started approximately two months after he was in the CIA, and it ended about four months ago.</s>MALVEAUX: CNN's got correspondents covering this big story, obviously, including our Intelligence Correspondent Suzanne Kelly covering the Petraeus affair, and its national impact on our security. And White House Correspondent Brianna Keilar, she is covering the shake up in the president's cabinet and the national security team. Suzanne, I want to start off with you, first of all. Tell us a little bit about this video that we are seeing of Broadwell. We know that the FBI says so far that there's no security element that's been compromised. Was there anything in that video that says she knew something that was classified or she was sharing something that wasn't supposed to be shared?</s>SUZANNE KELLY, CNN INTELLIGENCE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can almost read into it a little bit by the words she used herself, which were, you know, this is something that hasn't quite yet been vetted. So, you have to look at the information she was sharing on Libya, and the CIA saying they were actually holding prisoners there, and that means that she is sharing something that she heard with a public audience. Now, that's concerning because you have to ask, what's her source? Is the source of all of her information David Petraeus? Given her extraordinary access to the former director of the CIA, it would have been a reasonable assumption, but, again, her access to him was not in any way in an official capacity, though she did tell me this summer that she was working with the general and writing a second book. Now, a senior intelligence official says that the detention claims are categorically not true. That nobody was ever held at that CIA Annex before, during or after the attack. But with something like this, the damage is really done just by the nature of her putting information like that out there -- Suzanne.</s>MALVEAUX: How do they conclude now that there's no national security risk?</s>KELLY: Well, that's why the FBA (ph) steps in. The FBI is charged with an investigation. They've got to go through the e-mails which we've seen, you know, details of this leaking out all over the place, what was in those e-mails. They need to go through those e-mails to determine whether or not there was a security risk. Now, we know that it's not illegal, according to a senior intelligence official, affairs are not automatically considered a security violation, unless, of course, the affair is going on with a person who's from another country and it hasn't been reported. But you can have affairs, actually, and you can report them and it sort of becomes OK. There are no prohibitions, also interestingly, on private e-mail accounts. So, we've heard that there was this private e-mail account, possibly Gmail account, could be something else that the FBI was looking into where a lot of the exchanges went back and forth. No rules that say, you're not allowed, as director of the CIA or any other government position, to not have a private e-mail account. That's another interesting tidbit in all of this -- Suzanne.</s>MALVEAUX: And, Suzanne, do we know that if Petraeus -- is he going to be testifying before members of the Senate Intelligence Committee? Do we know if he will actually go before them?</s>KELLY: Well, you know, a few of them are really pressing for that to happen. It's not going to happen this Thursday at these closed hearings that we're having on Benghazi and Libya. The guy who's going to be sitting in that hot seat that day is going to be Michael Morell. He was asked by the president last Friday when general Petraeus offered his resignation to step up and become the acting director. He is a career veteran. He has been on this Benghazi investigation since day one and feels very passionately about it. I'm sure that he will be able to answer questions just as David Petraeus could.</s>MALVEAUX: All right, Suzanne Kelly. Thank you, Suzanne, appreciate it. Even before David Petraeus dropped the bombshell and resigned, it was well known that there were several senior officials in the Obama administration looking to leave for the second term. Secretary of state, Hillary Clinton and defense secretary, Leon Panetta both expected to depart. Likewise, the president might have to find replacements for treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and attorney general Eric Holder if they decide that they, too, would like to leave. I want to bring in our White House Correspondent Brianna Keilar to talk about just more on the president's plate here. How does this add to what he needs to get done starting in the next year?</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It really adds to it. I mean, you've got this issue, obviously, that comes after any re- election, the turnover of the cabinet, Suzanne, but just think of the big plate that this is being added to. First off, the fiscal cliff. That is obviously the biggest issue that President Obama has to deal with. You're looking at tax cuts that expire at the very end of December, and then those spending cuts that are set to kick in on January 2nd. As he works, obviously, figuring out the new faces on his cabinet. He's got his inauguration on January 20th, and February is a big month as well. He needs to summit a budget at the beginning of the month. It's possible the debt -- the debt ceiling, the treasury department says, could be hit that month -- that month. And you know how difficult that is for the White House to work out with Congress. And then, in March, the funding for the federal government is set to expire so that could mean a possible government shut down if that -- if agreement on that isn't found.</s>MALVEAUX: That's a lot. We're going to take a look at the schedule there, a very busy calendar. Possible replacements for Petraeus. This is, obviously, one of those positions he is going to want to fill rather quickly.</s>KEILAR: That's right. You heard Suzanne talking about Michael Morell. He is the acting now CIA director. He was the number two to David Petraeus. He is someone who really has the president's trust. He is also well liked on the Hill so that helps as well. And then John Brennan, the president's top advisor for counterterrorism and homeland security, is also a name that you're hearing a lot of. Now, he's been in the administration for four years. You know, he's pretty -- probably pretty tired at this point, but he is definitely being discussed as someone who might throw his hat in the ring for this. And then also former Congresswoman Jane Harmon got out of Congress recently. She was the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. But really, especially those first two names, these are really the names that are the most distinguished on what's a rather long list of possible replacements for Petraeus.</s>MALVEAUX: And Brianna, real quickly, tell us about this gang of eight that's going to start to sit down and try to work on avoiding this big fiscal cliff.</s>KEILAR: They are going to try to work on this for Democrats, for Republican senators. What our senior Congressional correspondent Dana Bash has been reporting, though, is that if you talk to leaders, you talk to the White House, I think it's seen more likely that this is a leadership level issue now hashing out a deal. Obviously, the gang of eight trying to work on something, but I think a lot of folks downplaying the expectation that that's really where the solution for the fiscal cliff comes from. You do know, of course, that the top Republican and the top Democrat, in both the House and the Senate, are going to be at the White House on Friday. Congress is back in tomorrow. There's a lot of details to work out. This is really just the beginning of it. Whether, you know, Democrats want to increase taxes on wealthy Americans, the White House wants to do that as well, Suzanne. Republicans are talking about finding a way to increase tax revenue, maybe through closing loopholes. But the fact is all of these details need to be worked out and this is the really tough stuff to work out.</s>MALVEAUX: It is the tough stuff. I notice, too, no females in that gang of eight there, Brianna. Interesting.</s>KEILAR: I know.</s>MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you. You've got your work cut out for you. Former FBI deputy director and CNN Contributor Tom Fuentes on the security concerns around Petraeus's affair, that up next. Here's what we're also working on for the hour. (voice-over): Thirteen days after Superstorm Sandy slammed the east coast. The commute is New York is still a mess. A look at the recovery effort that has people still struggling to get to work. Plus, 18 states offer medical marijuana. Now, two states have legalized recreational pot. The health benefits of weed. And scandal on "Sesame Street." This man, the voice of Elmo, is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a teenage boy. He denies it. This is CNN, and it's happening now.