just who is paula broadwell. that goes to the heart of the question, what she knew and how it matters. and how did she get so close to the director of the cia? plus, an "outfront" investigation into the red cross response to sandy. are the millions of dollars donated to the charity, the ones every time you see online, you sydow nature to the red cross? are they getting to victims of the storm? and how will the president and congress avoid the fiscal cliff? erskine bowles comes outfront swinging next. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. buy now. save later. hi, i just switched jobs, and i want to roll over my old 401(k) into a fidelity ira. man: okay, no problem. it's easy to get started; i can help you with the paperwork. um...this green line just appeared on my floo

paula broadwell you said you met her. tell me more about her and where she stands and when do you think, is there anything about her story or general petraeus' story that you have questions about? >> well, there are so many questions,o many things that we still don't know about this. paula broadwell was an attractive very fit person of quite striking physical presence. she and general petraeus famously liked to run together. she was a woman who in her 30's when she was having two children also managed to compete in triathalons. that's a person of real determination and discipline. she was strong-willed. what surprised people around general petraeus was she was a smart person but she was not intellectually gifted. general petraeus could have had any biographer in the world practically try to write his story with a kind of access that paula broadwell had. it was mystifying that he had given that access to this person whose principle intellectual achievement had been a masters from the harvard kennedy school. not to slight t

the source tells cnn that petraeus indicated broadwell might be obsessed with him and broadwell may have felt she was warding off the competition by sending e-mails to kelly. at some point, broadwell and petraeus were interviewed by the fbi and it was after that that things began to unravel quickly. the "wall street journal" says broadwell was interviewed in september and attorney general eric holder knew about the investigation then. a senior intelligence official says director of national intelligence james clapper was notified of the investigation by the fbi last tuesday, election day, just as some polls were beginning to close. that same source says that on wednesday, clapper notified the white house. petraeus met with the president last thursday and offered his resignation, which was accepted as the ordeal became public on friday. >> suzanne kelly joins me from washington. i just got something literally on my iphone. this is from the "wall street journal." i'm going to read this to you. this is the second time i'm reading it. a federal agent who launched the investigation that ultim

and the e-mails looked whether broadwell, rather, general petraeus was involved and could be charged with a crime. they determined no criminal charges so, then, the question is, why are they continuing the investigation? why are there interviews until the election? we are told today that this is still an open investigation. that the f.b.i. is continuing to do interviews and this explains the search of broadwell's house last night where f.b.i. agents came with boxes and tough -- tough fell bags do get her documents and wanting to see if there was classified information given to broadwell or others. >>shepard: thank you, sari. we will continue the discussion in a moment. a scandal of this level at the top ranks of the united states military, the f.b.i., and the c.i.a. fortable. fortable. but when it's hard or hurts to go to the bathroom, there's dulcolax stool softener. dulcolax stool softener doesn't make you go, it just makes it easier to go. dulcolax stool softener. make yourself comfortable. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all

and broadwell. they found a troef of explicit e-mails between the two. the fbi does not believe petraeus gave any classified information to broadwell, though there was some found on her computer. and tonight, there are calls from capitol hill to find out why it was the white house was not informed about this investigation, diane, until five months after it began. >> the investigation is full force tonight. thank you, martha. and as we said, we're also learning more about the wife and mother at the center of the scandal, paula broadwell. and abc's sharyn alfonsi now has those new details. >> reporter: her north dakota classmates voted her most likely to be remembered. but no one thought it would be for this. paula broadwell was exceptional. high school valedictorian. homecoming queen. west point cadet. and later, a graduate student at harvard. where a chance meeting with petraeus would change everything. on c-span, revealing she approached him about research she was doing. >> and he was kind enough t

paula broadwell was exceptional. high school valedictorian, homecoming queen, west point cadet, rising to a lieutenant colonel in the army, married with two young sons, she approached petraeus about research she was doing as a graduate student at harvard. >> i went up to him and said, you should really read it and he was kind enough to indulge me and take the paper and give me his business card. >> reporter: that research eventually led to the unprecedented access to the general while he was commanding forces in afghanistan. broadwell took six trips she described as embeds with the general. >> you know it's not a ha haigography. >> reporter: retired general john naugle has known him for 25 years. were you surprised at the access? >> i was surprised at the access. my friends who were there tell me that she had extraordinary access and that it worried them. it concerned them. >> welcome. >> thank you, pleasure to be here. >> reporter: broadwell embarked on a publicity tour promoting affair was ongoing at that time. she

paid a visit to paula broadwell's home. this was overnight. take a look. a team of agents spent nearly five hours searching broadwell's charlotte, north carolina home. no word on what they were looking for. >>> an executive shake-up at microsoft. steven sinofsky, head of the windows and windows live operations has left the company. his departure comes just after the launch of windows 8. sinofsky has been at the -- has been at microsoft since 1989 and was considered heir apparent by many to ceo steve ballmer. >>> so rescuers will continue their search at first light for two stranded snowboarders on mount rainier in washington state. they say they spotted the two men last night but darkness and bad weather forced them away. derrick tindall and thomas deal had to spend a second night on that mountain. they called 911 sunday to report they were trapped in a blizzard. let's go straight to rob marciano. conditions on the mountain have to be tough right now. what can they expect at daylight breaks? >> more snow, more wind. they're

broadwell's computer. i spoke to the attorney general about that last night. he agreed to present this to the intelligence committee, so we will have those, which is important to our mission because our mission is to see was intelligence what it should have been. should we have known this was a terrorist attack, much quicker than ten days after the attack. and my answer is yes, absolutely. so we want to hear testimony on that. if we have had an intelligence deficit, one thing or another, our oversite responsibilities have us take actions to see that this area of the world is beefed up intelligence wise. this can't be allowed to happen again. >> have you been briefed on the nature of the relationship between general allen and this woman in tampa, jill kelley? apparently there were thousands of pages of documents that were e-mailed from general allen to this woman that we don't know much about. as chair of the intelligence committee, what have you been told? >> i have not been told very much, that's for sure

between petraeus and broadwell. the fbi does not believe petraeus gave any classified information to broadwell, although there was some found on her computer. martha raddatz, abc news, washington. >> and that's what we're pointing out here, the real news, was national security at risk. whatever was going on in this man's bedroom, what did she really have access to, and did that put the nation in any kind of jeopardy? that's what makes the news beyond the soap opera, tawdry details of it all. >> if you are an adulterer and in the military, you can be tried for that. >> didn't know that. i didn't know that. interesting there too. >>> well, top lawmakers are expected to be briefed on the whole matter later today. i have a feeling it will be a long briefing. >> the fbi is certain to get questions about how it exactly handled the investigation. with more on that angle, here is abc's pierre thomas. >> reporter: fbi and justice department officials say they followed the rules. the fbi's focus was on whether federal cyber h

tu turned out to be from paula broadwell. "the wall street journal" rather is reporting that the fbi agent who launched the initial petraeus investigation when ms. kelley went to him to complain about those e-mails, he's now under investigation, too. why? apparently he sent a shirtless picture of himself, at least one -- maybe more -- to jill kelley, the woman there on the left side of your screen now, who kicked off all of this with those complaints about inappropriate e-mails that she was getting. paula broadwell wasn't home but the fbi paid a visit to her home in north carolina overnight. a team of agents was searching her residence, there for nearly five hours, seen leaving with duffel bags of potential evidence. brianna keilar is at the white house. chris, why don't you start with general john allen, 30,000 pages of documents is a shocking amount of back and forth between a high-ranking general and a woman who is, in essence, a party planner. true? >> yeah. you're talking about someone who was running u.s. central comman

paula broadwell competed in an iron man triathlon. a longtime friend says when petraeus looked back at the affair that cost him his career, he reflected that paula broadwell's relationship with him had some element of possessiveness. but that's not part of what initially attracted the two. a longtime friend of david petraeus says years in the war zone left him isolated. petraeus didn't have anyone on his level he could talk to candidly. so when paula broadwell came along, quote, he enjoyed her company. she was an attractive gal and they had things in common. another officer who knows both echoes that thought. >> she's a very bright -- she worked for me, as you know, she's an incredibly talented, very bright, creative, immensely fit and very attractive young lady. >> reporter: some journalists criticized broadwell on petraeus' biography, calling it a soft and glowing portrait of the general. broadwell defended herself on cnn. >> this project started as my december dissertation three years ago. when he was selected by the president to r

kelly went to the fbi after receiving emails from broadwell. broadwell made this comment about petraeus during a publicity tour last friday. >> i think he's a terrific role model for young people. >> reporter: congressional leaders are going to start an inquiry of their own. >> this is something that could have had an effect on national security. i think we should have been told. >> reporter: petraeus was scheduled to testify at hearings about the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi but now acting director michael morrell will take his place. >> don't see how in the world you can find out what happened in benghazi before, during and after the attack if general petraeus doesn't testify. >> reporter: senator diane feinstein says petraeus could still be called to testify at some point in the future. and the affair started two months after petraeus took over the cia. so far paula broadwell has been quiet about the relationship. >> tara mergener in washington for us this morning. thank you. it's been two weeks since hurricane sandy but for tens

welcome to the program, paula broadwell. no, no. that's not it. >> reporter: jon stewart co-hosted a barbecue with broadwell for wounded vets on labor day. >> i was staring at how defined her arms were. >> reporter: on "the daily show" monday night, he roasted her. >> the title of her book was "all in." a powerful man had an affair with a fawning admirer. she saw some other girl flirting with him. she was e-mailing. you petter step off. i saw him first. >> reporter: broadwell hasn't been seen since the scandal broke friday. but her friends and family are coming to her defense. her father telling "the new york daily news" friday, he supports his daughter 100%. this is about something else entirely. the 1995 west point graduate, now reportedly in hiding. seen here in photos. above the motto, work hard, play harder. broadwell was reportedly having an affair with petraeus, even as she was out promoting her book. she gave this interview to arthur cade in february. >> it's not a -- i'm not in love with david petraeus. i know, holly, his w

multiple sources have revealed the identity of a woman who received harassing e-mails from broadwell and whose complaints to the fbi led to the investigation which uncovered the affair. and there's a growing chorus of questions from lawmakers about exactly when the affair came to light, who in washington was told about it, and when they were told. nbc's kristen walker has the latest on the controversy. >> reporter: according to a senior federal official and close friend of david petraeus, 37-year-old jill kelly complained to fbi agents about being harassed by paula broadwell, david petraeus's biographer. a senior u.s. military official says jill kelly is involved in wounded warrior fundraisering in tampa, is married, she and her husband are close family official friends. officials say petraeus's down fall began when kelly complained to the fbi that she was receiving intimidating e-mails from broadwell. those e-mails led to the discovery of others between general petraeus and broadwell and were indicative of an extramarital affair. >> my first reaction was disbelief. >> reporter: stev

they interviewed paula broadwell. they then interviewed general petraeus two weeks before the elections. why didn't the white house know about it? >> you know, they looked at that very carefully which is what are our notification requirements. they pulled other documents and read them and said do we have a national security issue here? no, it doesn't appear we do. do we have a major security violation here? no. do we have criminal activity. notify them about what. the director of national intelligence, who is up the chain of command, petraeus' boss and said here it is, now you know about it. >> but they notify him until just a day before election or the day of the election. >> that's right. and i think what you're going to see here is from the fbi's standpoint and from director mueller's standpoint, i served under director mueller, one are we doing the right thing? number two as a steward of the fbi how do we keep the fbi from being embroiled in politics unnecessarily and the calculus here is what's the flip side of t

general petraeus' biographer, paula broadwell. as we mentioned, fbi agents descending on her home overnight. and sharyn alfonsi is here with the latest on all of that. sharyn? >> reporter: even as the agents surround the broadwell home, neighbors, friends and family are coming to paula's defense. this morning saying, as crazy as this story is, there's a lot more to it. >> it was captain america! [ laughter ] >> reporter: overnight, the man who once invited paula broadwell to talk about her best-selling biography of petraeus gave his spin on the scandal. >> paula broadwell. paula broadwell. why does that name seem so familiar to me? welcome to the program, paula broadwell. [ cheers and applause ] no, no. that's not it. [ laughter ] >> reporter: jon stewart co-hosted a barbecue with broadwell for wounded vets on labor day. >> the whole time i was just staring at how defined her arms were. >> reporter: on "the daily show" monday night, he roasted her. >> for god sake, the title of her book was "all in." [ laughter ] a powerful man ha

searching the home of mistress paula broadwell. >>> fashion faux pas. known for its runway shows but racism in the briefest of briefs? >>> we talk to michigan state head coach tom izzo live this hour. "newsroom" starts now. >>> and good morning from washingt washington. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining us. this morning, a shocking new development in the sex scandal that toppled one of the most respect respected men in washington. now it has snared another top general, john allen, commander of all international troops in afghanistan. today the feds are sifting through a mountain of e-mails and messages he traded with a woman named jill kelley. a mind boggling 20,000 to 30,000 pages and agents are searching for anything inappropriate. now here is the common link. that woman, kelley, jill kelley, she's the one who received harassing e-mails supposedly from petraeus' jealous mistress, paula broadwell. petraeus admits to the affair with broadwell and has said that this woman, kelley, is a family friend. we'll take a look at each of these pla

the affair that general petraeus admitted to was with paula broadwell and his biographer, but what is interesting, what is not clear at this point is who wrote the threatening e-mails that started this daisy-chain event and may not, according to both families, may not have been paula broadwell herself. this has been painted as a fight between two women over general petraeus, but it's not clear that's what it was at all. >> harris: and that's really the problem, right, jennifer? because if somehow or another someone had gained access to either her e-mail and/or that of general petraeus, that is a compromise. that is, it's not what you want. that's access that might be nefarious and that's why they were investigating. >> reporter: and the other thing, harris, it's not just that they may have gained access to his e-mail. we don't have confirmation of that. what we have confirmation of is that people close to david petraeus were potentially being, receiving threatening e-mails that may have been in fact an attempt to blackmail the director of the cia. and so, there are more questions than

broadwell. >> he writes there was no protege more ardent than broadwell. he talks about himself. he had only one contact. she had all the contact. they had a lot in common. >> she had said they met while she was in grad school at harvard and petraeus came to give a talk and she approached him afterwards, showing great interest. pau petraeus would be interested in cultivating as a possible protege. he was very much into mentoring. he came out of a tradition that social science department which cultivated relationships with with young men, positions for them to have, so it was not at all surprising that he found her attractive in that sense. initially. >> and what is your understanding as to when this started? it's very crucial for viewers who aren't aware, whether it was before or after he was at the ci ark. before, it's against the law in the military for him to have had an affair. at the cia, it would be different. >> that's true. that may be one reason why some of his friends are so adamant that it was after. i do know that there were a lot of people in kabul who were kind of d

-- >> reporter: opening this weekend with a parody of a paula broadwell book reading. >> lock the door, said the general, with my skirt hiked up above my waist -- >> reporter: her david petraeus biography as "50 shades of grey." >> pull my hard and spank me. >> reporter: the humor and criticism came mainly at the woman's expense. >> i think it's very clear from the media treatment of the personalities involved that this is a form of theater and that it is a sexist form of theater. in which whoever the woman is, she's always mocked, derided, and you know, that kind of mo mockery is not really aimed at the man. >> reporter: powerful men do pay a price for their sex scandals n petraeus' case it cost his job and quite possibly a bright political future, though it's not entirely clear. powerful men can hope for redemption. >> i did not have sexual relations with that woman. >> reporter: bill clinton's scandal may have wrecked his presidency but eventually he got to become the elder statesman, whe whe wheremonica lewinsky will always be "that woman." >> i understand she has a $12 million boo