Trump blasts Comey as acting FBI chief vows to press probe on campaign ties to Russia

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday called ousted FBI chief James Comey a “showboat” and “grandstander,” but its acting leader contradicted the president and promised the agency’s probe into possible Trump campaign ties to Russia would proceed with vigor.

Trump, facing Democratic accusations that he fired Comey on Tuesday to hinder the FBI investigation into alleged meddling by Russia in the 2016 US presidential election, said he would have taken the action even without a recommendation to do so by the two top Justice Department officials. That ran counter to previous administration explanations of Comey’s dismissal.

The Republican president also gave further details of his account that Comey informed him three times that he was not under investigation.

Trump’s personal attack on Comey seemed designed to underline that Comey’s dismissal was about his performance at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and not a probe that has hung over Trump’s presidency since he took office in January and threatens to overwhelm his policy priorities.

In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, testifying in place of Comey, promised to tell the panel of any White House meddling into the agency’s probe. Democrats have called for a special prosecutor to look into the Russia matter.

“He’s a showboat. He’s a grandstander,” Trump told NBC News in his first interview since firing Comey. “The FBI has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that, everybody knows that.”

The White House and Vice President Mike Pence have said Trump fired Comey on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and No. 2 Justice Department official Rod Rosenstein.

On Thursday, Trump said: “I was going to fire Comey. My decision.”

“I was going to fire regardless of recommendation.”

Trump told NBC News he never pressured Comey into dropping the FBI probe, adding: “If Russia did anything, I want to know that.” Trump said there was no “collusion between me and my campaign and the Russians,” but added that “the Russians did not affect the vote.”

McCabe’s testimony contradicted Trump’s appraisal of turmoil at the FBI under Comey.

“I can tell you also that Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day,” McCabe said.

“I can tell you that I hold Director Comey in the absolute highest regard. I have the highest respect for his considerable abilities and his integrity,” McCabe added. “And it has been the greatest privilege and honor of my professional life to work with him.”

Trump will not visit FBI headquarters in Washington as expected after agency officials told the White House he would not be greeted warmly following his firing of Comey, MSNBC reported on Thursday.

‘Vigorously and completely’

McCabe vowed no letup in the investigation.

“It is my opinion and belief that the FBI will continue to pursue this investigation vigorously and completely,” McCabe told the senators. He said there was no “crisis of confidence within the leadership of the FBI.”

Trump told NBC he had asked Comey once over dinner and twice by telephone whether he was under investigation in the Russia matter.

“I said: ‘If it’s possible, would you let me know, am I under investigation?'” Trump told NBC. “He said: ‘You are not under investigation.'”

Trump said the dinner with Comey was at the White House and Comey wanted to discuss staying on as FBI chief. “We had a very nice dinner. And at that time, he told me: ‘You are not under investigation.'”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she believed it was not a conflict of interest for a president to ask the FBI chief such a question.

Comey has not publicly discussed any conversations he had with Trump.

McCabe testified it was not typical practice to tell people they were not a targets of an investigation.

The Republican chairman of the Senate panel, Richard Burr, asked McCabe whether he ever heard Comey tell Trump the president was not the subject of investigation. McCabe sidestepped the question, saying he could not comment on an ongoing probe.

In his letter firing Comey on Tuesday, Trump wrote: “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.”

US intelligence agencies concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to disrupt the election that included hacking into Democratic Party emails and leaking them, with the aim of helping Trump.

Leaders of the US intelligence agencies, including Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA chief Mike Pompeo, testified to the senators on Thursday that they agreed with that finding. Moscow has denied any such interference and the Trump administration denies allegations of collusion with Russia.

“For many people, including myself, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the president’s decision to remove Director Comey was related to this investigation, and that is truly unacceptable,” said the Senate Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, Mark Warner.

The Trump administration has said Comey’s firing was unrelated to the Russia investigation. It said on Tuesday that Comey’s firing arose from his handling of an election-year FBI probe into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state.

“And while it’s clear to me now more than ever that an independent special counsel must be appointed, make no mistake our committee will get to the bottom of what happened during the 2016 presidential election,” Warner said.

Responding to Trump’s latest comments about Comey, Burr and Warner praised the ousted FBI chief’s integrity. Warner said he was offended at Trump’s remarks.

Former Republican Representative Mike Rogers is being considered as a candidate to replace Comey, a senior White House official said. The nominee must be confirmed by the US Senate.

source: beta.interaksyon.com

Clinton camp dares FBI to tell about Trump's Russia ties

WASHINGTON/FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A top aide to Hillary Clinton urged the FBI on Tuesday to disclose what it knows about any ties between Donald Trump and Russia, accusing the agency of unfairly publicizing its inquiry into Clinton's email practices while staying quiet about the Republican presidential candidate.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation opened a preliminary inquiry in recent months into allegations that Trump or his associates might have had questionable dealings with Russian people or businesses, but found no evidence to warrant opening a full investigation, according to sources familiar with the matter. The agency has not publicly discussed the probe.

A week before Election Day, the Clinton campaign was trying to contain damage from the announcement by FBI Director James Comey on Friday that his agency was looking into newly discovered emails that might relate to Clinton's use of a private server while she was secretary of state.

Clinton has voiced confidence the FBI will not find anything problematic.

She campaigned on Tuesday in the battleground state of Florida, where she was joined in Dade City by former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, whom Trump had mocked for gaining weight. Chants of “Lock her up!” from dozens of Trump supporters gathered nearby could be faintly heard while Clinton spoke.

In Ft. Lauderdale, a young man who yelled, "She's a liar" was escorted out of the rally. Several other protesters removed during the course of her speech.

"I am sick and tired of the negative, dark, divisive, dangerous vision and behavior from people who support Donald Trump," Clinton said as another protester was removed from the rally.

Trump and other Republicans have seized on Comey's announcement, which did not indicate any wrongdoing by Clinton, to ratchet up criticism of the Democratic candidate. She leads in most opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

Trump urged people on Tuesday who voted early for his Democratic rival to cancel their ballots and switch to him.

"This is a message for any Democratic voters who have already cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton and who are having a bad case of buyer's remorse, in other words you want to change your vote," Trump told a Wisconsin rally.

“So if you live here or in Michigan or Pennsylvania or Minnesota, you can change your vote to Donald Trump."

Several states, including those cited by Trump, have a process to allow voters who cast early ballots to change their votes, either by submitting new ballots or showing up at their polling place on Election Day.

'Connections to the Russians'

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook questioned why the FBI director had not released any information about the agency's Russia inquiries.

"If you're in the business of releasing information about investigations on presidential candidates, release everything you have on Donald Trump. Release the information on his connections to the Russians," Mook said on CNN.

The FBI inquiry reviewed allegations that Trump or his associates might have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or engaged in contacts or commerce with people in Russia who are subject to US or international financial sanctions.

The US government has blamed Russia for cyberattacks on Democratic Party organizations. Democrats criticize Trump for taking what they say is a pro-Russia foreign policy stance.

Russia's possible role in the campaign again came into focus when online magazine Slate said a group of computer scientists had been alarmed by records showing thousands of apparent connection attempts between an email server operated on behalf of the Trump Organization and computers inside a Russian company, Alfa Bank in Moscow.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the server, which had been used to send out hotel marketing material, had been dormant for years.

Prominent US cyber security company FireEye said it had been hired by Alfa Bank to investigate the records and had been granted access to the bank’s systems in Moscow to look for evidence of any relationship with Trump’s company or any signs of hacking or infection. FireEye said so far it had found no emails being sent back and forth or any other link.

Opinion polls showed Clinton's lead has narrowed slightly since early last week but it was too early to say whether the email controversy was hurting her.

Clinton led businessman Trump in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely voters released on Monday, by 44 percent to 39 percent. Clinton, hoping to be the first woman elected president, strengthened her lead over Trump in polls after the release last month of a 2005 video in which the Republican bragged in vulgar terms about groping women.

But in a dramatic twist, Comey told Congress in a letter on Friday that the FBI was reviewing the newly discovered emails.

Comey had announced in July that the FBI had completed a probe into the email practices, concluding there were no grounds to bring any charges.

Clinton's team has been pressing the FBI to provide details on the new trove of emails, which Comey said may or may not be significant in the case.

Little is publicly known yet about the emails, other than that they were found during an unrelated probe into former US Representative Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Comey's letter has provided Republicans with fresh fodder for attack in the waning days of the campaign. US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday that a Clinton presidency would bog down in "scandal baggage."

Congressional Republicans, who had been concerned Trump risked damaging their majorities in the House and Senate, were also encouraged by his recent statements on efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. A campaign aide said if Trump wins, he would ask Congress to begin working on legislation to repeal the law before the Jan. 20 inauguration.

source: interaksyon.com

Citing new lead, US govt draws back in battle with Apple

LOS ANGELES - The US Justice Department on Monday filed a request to postpone a crucial hearing with Apple on accessing the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino attackers, citing new leads in the case.

"On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking (Syed) Farook's iPhone," prosecutors said in a filing.

"Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook's iPhone.

"If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc. set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case."

Prosecutors requested that Tuesday's hearing before a federal judge in California be cancelled in order to allow time for testing the new method, and proposed filing a status report with the court by April 5.

The high-stakes case has pitted Apple against the FBI, which sought the tech giant's help in unlocking the iPhone of Farook, who, along with his wife, was behind the December 2 terror attack in San Bernardino that left 14 people dead.

source: interaksyon.com

Criminals like Apple iPhones because of encryption — Police

Some criminals have switched to new iPhones as their “device of choice” to commit wrongdoing due to strong encryption Apple Inc has placed on their products, three law enforcement groups said in a court filing.

The groups told a judge overseeing Apple’s battle with the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday that, among other things, they were aware of “numerous instances” in which criminals who previously used so-called throwaway burner phones had switched to iPhones. They did not list a specific instance.

The brief by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and two others also cited a jailhouse phone call intercepted by New York authorities in 2015, in which an inmate called Apple’s encrypted operating system a “gift from God.”

The government obtained a court order last month requiring Apple to write new software to disable passcode protection and allow access to an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the December killings in San Bernardino, California.

Apple asked that the order be vacated, arguing such a move would set a dangerous precedent and threaten customer security.

Tech industry leaders including Google, Facebook and Microsoft and more than two dozen other companies filed legal briefs on Thursday supporting Apple. The Justice Department received support from law enforcement groups and six relatives of San Bernardino victims.

The law enforcement groups said in their brief that Apple’s stance poses a grave threat to investigations across the country.

The FBI says Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were inspired by Islamist militants when they shot and killed 14 people on Dec. 2 at a holiday party. The couple later died in a shootout with police and the FBI said it wants to read the data on Farook’s work phone to investigate any links with militant groups.

In a filing on Thursday, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said at least two 911 calls from the time of the shooting reported three assailants, not two.

Even though those reports were “not corroborated,” if in fact there were three attackers it would be important to crack open the iPhone “to identify as of yet unknown co-conspirators,” the District Attorney’s filing stated.

Apple has said it respects the FBI and has cooperated by turning over data in its possession.

The latest request is different, Apple says, because it requires them to crack a phone with a software tool that does not currently exist.

source: interaksyon.com

FBI probing Sony hack, as data leaks emerge

WASHINGTON — The FBI said Tuesday it was investigating a cyberattack on Sony Pictures, amid reports that employee information as well as new films were being leaked online.

“The FBI is working with our interagency partners to investigate the recently reported cyber intrusion at Sony Pictures Entertainment,” a spokesman for the US federal law enforcement agency said in a statement.

“The targeting of public and private sector computer networks remains a significant threat, and the FBI will continue to identify, pursue, and defeat individuals and groups who pose a threat in cyberspace.”

Various reports meanwhile said the hackers appeared to have posted online both confidential employee data and films not yet released in theaters.

The security blogger and researcher Brian Krebs said he discovered on websites devoted to illicit trading a “global Sony employee list,” that included names, locations, salaries and dates of birth for more than 6,800 individuals.

“Another file being traded online appears to be a status report from April 2014 listing the names, dates of birth, SSNs (social security numbers) and health savings account data on more than 700 Sony employees,” Krebs wrote.

The Washington Post reported meanwhile that the FBI was warning companies in a confidential memo about the malicious software used in the Sony hack.

An FBI spokesman said only that “we provided a routine notification to private industry,” but declined to elaborate.

The spokesman added that the FBI “routinely advises private industry of various cyber threat indicators” to help protect computer networks.

According to the Post, the hackers used malware similar to that used to launch destructive attacks on businesses in South Korea and the Middle East, including one against oil producer Saudi Aramco.

Some reports in the past few days said Sony is looking into whether North Korea may have been behind the major cyberattack on the studio last week, possibly because of a upcoming comedy film about a CIA plot to assassinate its leader Kim Jong-Un.

“The Interview,” which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as two journalists recruited by the CIA to bump off Kim, has infuriated the North Koreans, with state media warning of “merciless retaliation.”

The entertainment news site Variety has reported that unreleased Sony movies including the upcoming “Annie” have been made available on pirate file-sharing websites.

The war film “Fury” “Mr. Turner,” “Still Alice” and “To Write Love on Her Arms” were also made available.

Sony did not respond to an AFP request for comment.

source: interaksyon.com

Norwegian jailed in US over Bieber scam

LOS ANGELES - A Norwegian man who admitted tricking an investor out of $1 million in a fake deal to promote Justin Bieber in Scandinavia was sentenced to 11 years in jail, US prosecutors said Monday.

Wahleed Ahmed was also ordered to repay the $1 million, said the US Attorney's office in Los Angeles and the FBI.

Ahmed presented himself as a successful entrepreneur from Norway who had invented solar-powered phone covers, and he promised the victim would make $9 million in profit in three months.

The 22-year-old used photos of famous dignitaries including the Crown Prince of Norway, Queen Rania of Jordan, and others, and claimed to have multimillion dollar contracts with large telecoms firms, to lend credibility to his scheme.

In August 2012, Ahmed convinced the victim to invest $1 million to secure concert venues for the Justin Bieber Tour, using fake documents and websites he had bought with domain names suggesting they were part of the scheme.

He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and and pleaded guilty in March 2013, admitting he had "taken the victim investor's money knowing that there was no contract for Justin Bieber tours and that the victim would lose his money."

As well as serving 132 months in jail, he was ordered to make an immediate restitution payment of $1,001,505.50. Judge Philip S. Gutierrez ordered the prison term to be followed by three years of supervised release.

source: interaksyon.com

FBI warns of US government breaches by Anonymous hackers

Activist hackers linked to the collective known as Anonymous have secretly accessed U.S. government computers in multiple agencies and stolen sensitive information in a campaign that began almost a year ago, the FBI warned this week.

The hackers exploited a flaw in Adobe Systems Inc’s software to launch a rash of electronic break-ins that began last December, then left “back doors” to return to many of the machines as recently as last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a memo seen by Reuters.

The memo, distributed on Thursday, described the attacks as “a widespread problem that should be addressed.” It said the breach affected the U.S. Army, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and perhaps many more agencies.

Investigators are still gathering information on the scope of the cyber campaign, which the authorities believe is continuing. The FBI document tells system administrators what to look for to determine if their systems are compromised.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to elaborate.

According to an internal email from Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz’ chief of staff, Kevin Knobloch, the stolen data included personal information on at least 104,000 employees, contractors, family members and others associated with the Department of Energy, along with information on almost 2,0000 bank accounts.

The email, dated October 11, said officials were “very concerned” that loss of the banking information could lead to thieving attempts.

Officials said the hacking was linked to the case of Lauri Love, a British resident indicted on October 28 for allegedly hacking into computers at the Department of Energy, Army, Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Sentencing Commission and elsewhere.

Investigators believe the attacks began when Love and others took advantage of a security flaw in Adobe’s ColdFusion software, which is used to build websites.

Adobe spokeswoman Heather Edell said she was not familiar with the FBI report. She added that the company has found that the majority of attacks involving its software have exploited programs that were not updated with the latest security patches.

The Anonymous group is an amorphous collective that conducts multiple hacking campaigns at any time, some with a few participants and some with hundreds. In the past, its members have disrupted eBay’s Inc PayPal after it stopped processing donations to the anti-secrecy site Wikileaks. Anonymous has also launched technically more sophisticated attacks against Sony Corp and security firm HBGary Federal.

Some of the breaches and pilfered data in the latest campaign had previously been publicized by people who identify with Anonymous, as part of what the group dubbed “Operation Last Resort.”

Among other things, the campaigners said the operation was in retaliation for overzealous prosecution of hackers, including the lengthy penalties sought for Aaron Swartz, a well-known computer programmer and Internet activist who killed himself before a trial over charges that he illegally downloaded academic journal articles from a digital library known as JSTOR.

Despite the earlier disclosures, “the majority of the intrusions have not yet been made publicly known,” the FBI wrote. “It is unknown exactly how many systems have been compromised, but it is a widespread problem that should be addressed.”

source: interaksyon.com

FBI vows 'worldwide investigation' as Boston Marathon casualties rise to 176

BOSTON, Massachusetts - The number of casualties in a Monday's bombings at the Boston marathon has risen to 176, police said Tuesday, as the Federal Bureai of Investigation pledged a "worldwide investigation" to find the people responsible for the carnage. Three people were killed in the bombing.

"We have a number of 176 casualties that presented at area hospitals," Boston Police Chief Ed Davis told reporters, adding that 17 people were in critical condition.

Earlier, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick had placed the number of injured at more than 150.

The good news was that there are no known additional threats following the bombing, an FBI official said Tuesday.

FBI Special Agent Rick DesLauriers told reporters in the aftermath of Monday's attack that while investigators were fanning out across Boston, there was "no known imminent physical threat at any location" in the area.

Still, he stressed, the FBI was leaving no stone unturned. "It will be a worldwide investigation. We'll go to the ends of the earth to identify the subject or subjects who are responsible for this despicable crime and we will do everything we can to bring them to justice," DesLauriers said.

The agent also said the US Federal Bureau of Investigation was "not aware of any threat information prior to the marathon."

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, meanwhile, said only two bombs were used, and no other other unexploded devices had been found despite earlier reports to the contrary.

"It's important to clarify that two and only two explosive devices were found yesterday," Patrick said. "Other parcels -- all other parcels in the area of the blast have been examined. No unexploded bombs. No unexploded explosive devices (were) found."

He said over 150 people were injured, some of them gravely.

"Our thoughts go out to all of those injured and killed," he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Google says FBI watching the Web

WASHINGTON — Google says the FBI is monitoring the Web for potential terrorist activity. But it can’t confirm the extent of the surveillance.

As part of the Google Transparency Report, the Internet giant released data this week on so-called National Security Letters — official requests for data under the Patriot Act passed after the September 11, 2001 attacks.




But Google said it was only allowed to provide broad ranges of numbers: in the years from 2009 to 2012, for example, it received between zero and 999 requests.

The requests affected between 1,000 and 1,999 accounts, except in 2010, when the range was 2,000 to 2,999 accounts.

“You’ll notice that we’re reporting numerical ranges rather than exact numbers,” said a blog post from Google law enforcement and information security director Richard Salgado.

“This is to address concerns raised by the FBI, Justice Department and other agencies that releasing exact numbers might reveal information about investigations.”

He thanked government officials for collaborating with Google in providing “greater insight” into the use of National Security Letters.

The numbers, while inexact, were believed to be the first data from a private company about the requests, criticized by civil liberties groups for giving the government too much power to conduct surveillance without a warrant.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls the letters “dangerous” and has challenged the authority, along with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Google’s actions are “an unprecedented win for transparency,” EFF’s Dan Auerbach and Eva Galperin said Wednesday.

Despite a lack of exact data, “Google has helped to at least shed some limited light on the ways in which the US government uses these secretive demands for data about users,” they added in a blog post.

“While we continue to be in the dark about the full extent of how the law is being applied, this new data allays fears that NSLs are being used for sweeping access to large numbers of user accounts — at Google, at least.”

One inspector general review found “serious deficiencies” in the FBI’s handling of the process and noted that the letters concerned tens of thousands of US citizens and non-Americans.

EFF said public records have documented the FBI’s “systemic abuse” of the power.

source: interaksyon.com

FBI agents search home of Petraeus lover as US commander in Afghanistan is linked to scandal

WASHINGTON -- FBI agents on Monday searched the home of the woman at the center of the sex scandal that led to the resignation of CIA director David Petraeus after new revelations surface about the affair.

Petraeus resigned on Friday over the affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, just three days after Obama was reelected president following a heated campaign in which the CIA faced questions about its handling of a deadly attack on a US consulate in Libya.

The latest information is that US commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, is under investigation for "inappropriate" emails to a woman linked to the sex scandal involving Petraeus, a defense official said Tuesday.

The revelation represented yet another stunning turn in a widening scandal that has jolted Washington only days after the reelection of President Barack Obama, with lawmakers vowing to get to the bottom of case.

The Pentagon official told reporters the FBI had uncovered a trove of 30,000 pages of correspondence between Allen and Jill Kelley, a key figure in the scandal that brought down the storied former general and CIA chief.

The senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta there was a "distinct possibility" the Allen emails were connected to the Petraeus investigation.

Panetta, himself a former CIA chief, said Petraeus had been right to resign as a matter of "personal integrity," while Washington struggled to digest a steady stream of leaked allegations.

Kelley, of Tampa, Florida, had alerted the FBI to receiving threatening emails earlier this year that were eventually traced to Broadwell. The FBI then found emails between Broadwell and Petraeus that revealed their affair.

Panetta said in a statement that his department was informed by the FBI on Sunday about the case and that he had referred it to the Pentagon's inspector general for investigation.

He said Allen would remain in Kabul as the commander of NATO-led security forces but that he had asked the Senate Armed Services Committee to delay action on Allen's pending nomination to be NATO's supreme allied commander.

Panetta praised the general's work in Afghanistan, saying his leadership has been "instrumental" in securing progress in the war against Taliban insurgents.

However, Panetta said he requested that the Senate committee move promptly on the nomination for Allen's successor in Afghanistan, General Joseph Dunford.

It remained unclear what allegations Allen faced, and officials declined to comment as to whether the Marine general was accused of using his work email to communicate with Kelley or had disclosed any classified information.

"It's far too early to speculate on what the IG (inspector general) might find," the same defense official said.

"There is enough concern that we believe it was a prudent measure to take appropriate steps to direct an investigation and notify Congress," he said.

"We need to see where the facts lead in this matter, before jumping to any conclusions whatsoever."

He added that Allen insisted on his innocence.

"General Allen disputes that he has engaged in any wrongdoing in this matter," he said.

Kelley, a "social liaison" to an air force base in Tampa, had a longstanding family friendship with Petraeus but no official status in the military.

Both Petraeus and Allen served in Tampa, home to US Central Command, which Petraeus led before taking over as commander in Afghanistan in 2010.

Petraeus had been due to testify to Congress this week on the September 11 assault in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including US ambassador Chris Stevens and two former Navy SEALs working for the CIA.

Panetta, Petraeus' predecessor and the most senior administration figure to yet speak out on the resignation, attempted to draw a line under the scandal.

"My heart obviously goes out to him and his family. But I think he took the right step," he told reporters aboard a flight to Australia.

"I think it's important when you're director of the CIA, with all of the challenges that face you in that position, that personal integrity comes first and foremost."

Retired US Army colonel Steve Boylan -- a close Petraeus associate -- told AFP he "regrets the poor judgment and the lack of discipline more than we can probably put into words ... His words to me were 'I screwed up.'"

Boylan, who served as Petraeus' spokesman when the pair was in Iraq, said the 60-year-old Petraeus had warned his wife of 38 years, Holly, about his affair before the news broke and was trying to make amends.

Boylan said the affair between Petraeus and Broadwell began about two months after he assumed his post at the CIA in September 2011, and thus after he retired from the US Army. It ended about four months ago.

It all unraveled when Jill Kelley, 37, complained to an FBI agent acquaintance that she had received threatening anonymous emails.

According to widely reported leaks from US officials, FBI agents traced the mails back to Broadwell and, on scrutinizing her online records, found a series of sexually explicit exchanges with Petraeus confirming their affair.

The pair was interviewed separately by investigators in late October and early November but, despite reports Broadwell was found to be in possession of some classified material, no criminal charges were brought.

Nearly a dozen FBI agents on Monday searched Broadwell's North Carolina home, removing bags, boxes and pictures, local media reported. She has not been seen at her home since Petraeus resigned over the affair.

Broadwell may have revealed classified information last month by claiming at a public forum that the CIA was detaining Libyan militia members and that the practice may have triggered the September 11 attack on the US consulate.

The spy agency has strongly denied holding prisoners at the CIA annex in Benghazi.

Petraeus took command of the CIA 14 months ago, retiring from the military after a glittering career that saw him lead the 101st Airborne, the US war in Iraq, its CentCom regional command and international forces in Afghanistan.

Two months after hanging up his uniform, according to Boylan, he started an affair with Broadwell, a former army officer 20 years his junior who traveled with him in Afghanistan and has written a glowing biography of him.

Adding political intrigue to the scandal -- according to a report in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal -- the original FBI agent who was contacted by Kelley brought the matter to the attention of Republican lawmakers.

They in turn contacted the FBI, and Petraeus resigned late last week.

Meanwhile, the FBI investigation itself has come under scrutiny.

According to the Wall Street Journal, supervisors pulled the whistleblower FBI agent off the case after he became "obsessed" with the matter and was caught sending Kelley shirtless photos of himself.

US lawmakers already plan hearings into the Benghazi debacle and claims the four US victims were denied sufficient protection because of confusion between CIA and State Department leaders over security responsibility.

Now they also want to know why the FBI and Justice Department did not inform them or the White House about Petraeus's affair until last week, after the spy chief's sudden departure and public admission of guilt.

The scandal has also left Obama with a hole to fill on his national security team at a time when he is also expected to be replacing his secretaries of state, defense and treasury.

One name being floated as a possible Petraeus replacement is John Brennan, the White House counter-terrorism adviser and a CIA veteran. Others say Michael Morell, the agency's acting director, may take on the role.

source: interaksyon.com