complaint from jill kelley that she received harassing e-mails. the government has taken away for now, the top security clearance of paula broadwell, the former mistress of david petraeus. this is after investigators found substantial classified information on her computer and the glare being question, did broadwell's relationship with david petraeus give her access to these classified documents? "outfront" tonight, cnn national security contributor, fran townsend. she's also a member of the cia external add voizry committee and knowed a lot about what it means to have top clearance. the name of the fbi agent, frederick humphries, who was by the way, involved in foiling a terrorist attack in 1999. very accomplished fbi agent. what do you know about the relationship? >> it's interesting. apparently, i understand from a senior law enforcement official that humphries and jill kelley met when she attended the citizens academy. this is a sort of familiarization program that the fbi runs across the country in communities to familiarize people and sort of get them to understand the work of the fb

academic who wrote a biography of petraeus. we know about the affair because of jill kelley, she alerted the fbi, said she was getting anonymous harassing e-mails, turns out they were from broadwell. kelley dealt with a lot of generals both in the military and socially in tampa. overnight we learned another four-star general is involved. our current commander in afghanistan, he took over when petraeus left, john allen. now being investigated for what officials describe as potentially inappropriate e-mails with jill kelley of tampa. both of them deny any untoward relationship. they're reviewing the conduct of the first agent who reviewed jill kelley's e-mails in the first place, because he allegedly sent shirtless photos to jill kelley. in plain english, this is a mess. with hearings to come, this can only get larger from here. we begin our reporting of the story tonight with andrea mitchell in the d.c. newsroom. >> tonight the white house is expressing strong support for general john allen. the top commander in afghanistan, who has strongly denied any wrongdoing. after becoming entangled

inappropriate communications with jill kelley. now investigators are said to be looking into the 20,000 to 30,000 pages of e-mails and other documents that he sent to her. kelley, of course, is the florida woman whose original complaint to the fbi about threatening e-mails inadvertently exposed the affair between general petraeus and paula broadwell. meantime a team of fbi agents searched broadwell's home in charlotte, north carolina, overnight, and spent nearly five hours there wrapping up just after 1:00 in the morning. "wall street journal" is reporting that the fbi agent who launched the petraeus investigation himself is under investigation. in part because he sent shirtless pictures of himself to jill kelley. jill kelley, the woman who kicked off all of this investigation, by complaining about the e-mails that she was getting from the petraeus mistress. so the agent, who knew kelley, allegedly sent those pictures before any investigation began, but as you can see, the story is getting much more complicated. we've got team coverage of the breaking news this morning. chris lawrence i

her name is jill kelley, a friend of the petraeus family and triggered the original f.b.i. investigation that revealed the director was cheating on his wife. she contacted an at she knew, shirtless agent, claiming to have received anonymous threatening e-mails tells her to stay away from general petraeus. it is unclear but the f.b.i. found reason to open an investigation. investigators determined that the e-mails were from general's biographer paula broad wall and she and general petraeus had an fair and neither had done anything criminal but reason that are inexplicable at this moment, there is more after thousands and thousands of e-mails were discovered thousands and thousands of e-mails. and general allen is also married, and he defies there was an affair and denies that there was any wrongdoing. and there is another twist. sources are now telling fox news that the f.b.i. agent jill kelley contacted was booted off the case when he became obsessed with the case, and investigators discovered that he sent that shirtless photo of himself to kelley, the latest in a tangled

of the petraeus scandal. who are jill kelley and paula broadwell?el what makes the sleep number sre different? you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. we have so much technology in our store to really show the customers what's going on with their bodies. you can see a little more pressure in the shoulders and in the hips. ... now you can feel what happens as we raise your sleep number settingnd allow the bed to contour to your individual shape. oh, wow. that feels really good. at sleep number we've created a collection of innovations dedicated to individualizing your comfort. the sleep number collection, designed around the innovative sleep number bed - a bed with dualair technology that allows you to adjust to the exact comfort your body needs. each of your bodies. so whatever you feel like, sleep number's going to provide it for you. during the final days of our semi-annual sleep sale, save $500 on our classic series special edition bed set plus special financing on selected beds but hurry sale ends sunday. you'll only find the innovative sleep numb

at the center of it right now? jill kelley. her complaints about harassing e-mails ultimately led to petraeus' resignation. now we're learning of, quote, flirtatious e-mails she allegedly sent general allen. >>> and the latest on the fbi investigation that stumbled upon petraeus' affair with his biographer, paula broadwell. two experts from the fbi on why president obama didn't learn of the investigation for six months. let's go "outfront." >>> i'm erin burnett. good evening. "outfront" tonight, a scandal turns more bizarre. new details tonight on the petraeus scandal. the white house, forced to take a stand. not on david petraeus, but on another four-star general, john allen. america's top commander in afghanistan. he was set to become the nato supreme commander, until the president put that nomination on hold today. like petraeus, allen is at the top of the american military. he's a four-star general. one of only four four-star generals in the entire u.s. marine corps. officials are investigating general john allen after finding allegedly inappropriate e-mails between general allen

after finding allegedly inappropriate e-mails between general allen and jill kelley. the same jill kelley who had contacted the fbi about receiving harassing e-mails from petraeus biographer and former mistress, paula broadwell. allen, who once worked for petraeus at the u.s. central command, denies any wrongdoing as investigators look through 20,000 to 30,000 pages of documents. now, i want to make it clear what we know at this time is that it's not clear how many of those documents may include potentially inappropriate communication. but the new allegations have raised serious questions tonight about the culture of relationships in the military, and we're going to have more on that in a moment. but first, we go to our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. she has more on this developing story, breaking headline after headline today. barbara, where is general allen right now? what is his reaction to these allegations of potentially inappropriate e-mails? >> reporter: well, erin, general allen is said to be here in washington. in fact, he flew here from afghanistan, because on thu

. >> reporter: at the center of this web, jill kelley, the tampa socialite and honorary military ambassador, living near the centcom headquarters where petraeus and allen were once based. officials say it was early this summer that kelley received anonymous e-mails, accusing her of flaunting her friendly relationships with top military brass. the fbi traced those e-mails back to paula broadwell's computer, where they discovered the evidence of broadwell's affair with david petraeus. but it doesn't stop there. abc news has learned that general allen also received an anonymous e-mail traced to paula broadwell, painting jill kelley as a seductress. a further look by the fbi into kelley's e-mails revealed hundreds between kelley and allen, 20,000 to 30,000 pages of communications in all. but a source familiar with the e-mails say they contain no evidence of a sexual relationship, something allen strongly denied. instead, the e-mails are described as friendly, perhaps flirty, but routine, mostly about meetings with ambassadors and dinner parties. in one note kelley tells the general s

generation have been brought low by their acquaintance with jill kelley, a tampa socialite seen here at her home with the story playing on the t.v. behind her. last spring, kelley complained to the f.b.i. of receiving harassing anonymous e-mails. turned out, those e-mails had been written by a jealous paula broadwell. the investigation then exposed broadwell's affair with c.i.a. director david petraeus. then the f.b.i. found an e-mail trail linking kelley to general allen. and tonight bob orr picks up the story for us from there. bob? >> reporter: good evening, scott, well, the announcement came in the middle of the night on board an airplane carrying secretary of defense leon panetta to australia. pentagon spokesman george little told reporters secretary panetta asked the white house to postpone general allen's appointment as supreme allied commander in europe. >> on sunday the federal bureau of investigation referred to the department of defense a matter involving general john allen, commander of the international security assistance force, or i.s.a.f., in afghanistan. >> reporter: the ma

under investigation for e-mails between he and jill kelley of tampa florida, is telling associates that he received an e-mail traced back to paula broadwell, the petraeus biographer accused of sending harassing e-mails to jill kelley. according to the journal, allen says the broadwell e-mail was written under the pseudonym kelley patrol. it described kelley as a, quote, seductress, and warned the general about becoming entangled in a relationship with the married socialite. the journal also reports kelley tried this summer to get the fbi to drop the investigation that began with kelley's complaint of harassing e-mails traced back to broadwell. people familiar with the case tell the journal that she became worried about personal information being provided to investigators. meanwhile, the washington post quotes senior law enforcement officials as saying the search conducted at broadwell's home monday night marks a renewed focus on learning just how broadwell gained access to classified files. jill kelley, who has given some impression that she has some kind of state department status

we learned, came to the aid of the tampa socialite jill kelley's twin sister, natalie. >>reporter: both of these sisters, they are twins, faced pretty steep debt and natalie was also involved in a very sticky custody battle and both of these sisters cultivated relationships with powerful men in washington and generals who were rising stars at central command. natalie was involved in a custody battle with a former bush administration official and general petraeus wrote a letter on of behalf of natalie appealing to a judge in the custody battle "we hosted them and the kelley family for christmas dinner this past year" and in each case we have seen a very love willing relationship between natalie and her son. the judge wrote "she appears to lack any appreciation or respect for honesty and integrity." >>shepard: thank you. with us the journal list and author of 19 boxes on intelligence and current affair affairs, and he broke the secret service prostitution scandal with books "inside the c.i.a." and "secrets of the f.b.i." do you have a sense yet for whether this thing becomes somethi

under investigation for e-mails between he and jill kelley of tampa, florida, is telling associates that he received an e-mail traced back to paula broadwell, the petraeus biographer accused of sending harassing e-mails to jill kelley. according to "the journal," allen says the broadwell e-mail was written under the pseudonym kelley patrol. it's describing kelley as a, quote, seductress, and warned the general about becoming entangled in a relationship with the married socialite. "the journal" also reports kelley tried this summer to get the fbi to drop the investigation that began with kelley's complaint of harassing e-mails traced back to broadwell. well, people familiar with the case tell "the journal" that she became worried about personal information being provided to investigators. meanwhile, "the washington post" quotes senior law enforcement officials as saying the search conducted at broadwell's home monday night marks a renewed focus on learning just how broadwell gained access to some classified files. meanwhile, jill kelley, who has given some impression that she has som

, pero no dijo casi nada del escándalo que le costó el puesto, jill kelley y el agente del fbi que inició la investigación, tienen mucho que contar, lourdes del río con la información. >>> el agente del fbi que inció la investigación que eventualmente condujo a la renuncia de david petraeus, dijo que esta foto sin camisa fue un chiste que envió a conocidos y amigos, aún así , fue retirado de este caso tan delicado. >>> en la primavera pasada, paula broadwell le escribió a david petraeus que tuviera cuidado con jill kelley, el general john allen le envió también el correo quien de inmediato decidió contactar al director del fbi y ponerlo al tanto de la situación, mientras más se indaga en el caso, se sabe más de jill kelley, opacando a paula broadwell. >>> la supuesta víctima tiene más espuelas que la agresora, ahora el enfoque mayor será con jill kelley. >>> jill kelley ofreció sus servicios como cónsul hononario de corea del sur. >>> la señora kelley me dijo muy claro que david petraeus la puso en esa situación, por eso tenía acceso a esos servicios. >>> el otro pe

atención, a jill kelley que fue prohibido su acceso a una base en la florida, y a paula broadwell que se le retiró el acceso a informes clasificados, los investigadores analizan documentos y correos electrónicos de las dos mujeres. >>> aunque la trama cada vez es más complicada, paula broadwell parece tranquila y jill kelley no pierde su glamour, ambas mujeres están en un escándalo que implica a las más altas personas del país. >>> el general john allen está haciendo un trabajo excelente y sigue teniendo mi confianza, suspewnder su nominación como comandante de la otan es ua buena decisión . >>> tenemos a un individuo que está al tanto de todo este repliego, el primer repliego del año, y si sacas a este individuo instrumental que ha levantado ya el reporte a las autoridades afganas sería un golpe. >>> la mayor parte de los correos electrónicos que el general john allen intercambió con jill kelley, que reveleara la relación de paula broadwell y david petraeus solo muestran algo de coqueteo, comentarios donde jill kelley le dice, te viste bien en televisión, y el genera

pages of e-mails with jill kelley who set the fw bi on paula broad well. >> petraeus affair. >> biographer and mistress paula broadwell. >> schenn an begans. >> very explicit e-mails. >> friend employ, perhaps flirtatio flirtatious. >> is this story serious or just salacious. s that there been too much reckless speculation and has it overshadowed popp's agenda or the investigation of the investigation in ia reese role with benghazi. >> the consecutive executive steps down. can he jump-start a paper that's been through tough times? aisle ask him. a i'm howard kufrts and this is "reliable sources." >>> it is for the media the perfect storm when the combined sex, scandal, war, spying, and gossip, not to mention an fbi investigation and secret e-mails. the coverage of the petraeus scandal has been relentless, sometimes breathless, a tabloid tale in which the facts are often murky. >> the extramarital affair, we're told, was with one paula broadwell. >> the fbi opened an investigation into whether broadwell had access to petraeus years e-mails or other access. >> jill kelley is a

before the end of the year. >>> and there are new details about the woman, jill kelley, at the center of the scandal that brought down general petraeus. as nbc's andrea mitchell reports jill kelley's connections went beyond the social elite and tampa, all the way to the white house. >> reporter: jill kelley and her twin sister met at the white house, touring it on november fourth with their families, two days before general james clapper, the director of national intelligence was even told about the petraeus scandal. jill kelley mentioned the visit in an e-mail, saying i was at the white house with my friends in the administration this weekend. the stress was surreal. white house officials say the kelley sisters were invited by a staffer who may have met at the air force base. jill kelley was bipartisan in her outreach, she and her sister dropped in on a fundraiser for marco rubio two years ago. they did not pay, sources said, just arrived and soon left. in an e-mail last march, jill kelley said she was trying to carrying out a threat to deep fry the quran, saying i have an e-mail gettin

these harassing enough e-mails to warrant investigation or did it just happen because jill kelley happens to be friends with an fbi agent who put it in front of someone. >> and all of this is a huge nightmare for the president, at an awful time, has a major transition on national security, losing secretary of state, secretary of defense, the cia director, might lose the attorney general. he has a lot on his mind. last thing he needs to have to deal with two generals being investigated. >> the point of this from white house point of view, nobody can blame the president for any of this, and that in fact general petraeus was close to a consensus candidate as you get for a job, and he definitely was. but it does place the president in an odd position because he has all of these moving chess pieces. he has to figure out where they go quickly, he has to do a lot of personal vetting, a lot of political vetting, and i would argue a lot of team building as he gets this foreign policy team together for a second term, not to mention the fact he would rather be focusing now on the fiscal cliff. >> an

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 players in a scandal that seems to grow more bizarre by the day. first stop, pentagon and cnn's chris lawrence. so, chris, what specifically are investigators looking for in those messages? morality aside, how serious of a concern is an extramarital affair? >> it's very serious in the military. you're talking about an active duty officer, carol. and under the uniform code of military justice, you can be prosecuted for adultery. john allen is a married, fo four-star general who has been running the war in afghanistan. he had already flown from afghanistan here to washington. that's how quickly all of this broke down. he was already here in washington just 48 hours away f

kelley home. showing jill's twin cyst ter, natalie, general petraeus, jill's husband scott, jill, the general's wife, holly. >> there is no question they were friend. and no reason why they wouldn't be friends. >> reporter: despite all of her lavish entertaining, court documents reviewed by abc news, show that jill kelley and her husband have been sued at least nine times. and faced foreclosure on their home. the kelley home also served as office for a charity she and her husband, a doctor once set up for cancer victims which spent tens of thousand of dollars on travel, meals and entertainment. all of it raised lots of questions about the two generals and their connections to the tampa housewife. brian ross, abc news, new york. >> making a prediction, real housewives of tampa will be on bravo within the next 18 monu m. saying it. >> seems like a candidate. described as a nice, bored, rich, social it. >> that's, thus the show. telling you. calling it. heard it here first, "world news now." >> double in on the bet with my cough drops. >> boom, we both get paid. beautiful. >>> president

lid off of the petraeus affair. who is this woman, jill kelley and two top rarchinging army generals use posushions to protect a woman and her custody of the children. ♪ buy 5-hour energy pink lemonade and ♪ ♪ you can help others along the way. ♪ ♪ a portion of every bottle that they sell goes to fight ♪ ♪ breast cancer and i think that's swell. ♪ ♪ the more you take, the more they'll pay, ♪ ♪ so make them write a big check today. ♪ ♪ and if you're feeling a little slow, ♪ ♪ then 5-hour energy will help you go. ♪ ♪ so buy a bottle of pink lemonade and ♪ ♪ you can help fight breast cancer today. ♪ >> who is jill kelley, the so-called tampa socialite in the center of petraeus scandal? i have no idea who she is. i have handled all of the major event necessary this town now and i am surprised i don't know her . tampa bay magazine editor knows her. good evening aaron. >> good evening, judge. >> please tell us what it is it that caused jill kelley to be so attracted by the military and base, that she got so involved with the people there? >> here in

fbi began investigating harassing e-mails sent to jill kelley, a socialite in tampa. the fbi found out it was broadwell sending those e-mails. according to the washington post, the e-mail described kelly as a -- i don't know why they do this. as a seductress. accused her of having a relationship with petraeus. for more on where things stand we're joined by chief white house correspondent -- mike isikoff, and of course we've got david corn, who's on the show now from mother jones. let me talk about this, first of all. i think it was interesting of the president to give almost a complete snow white description of this guy. he referred to the affair, which is the reason he's being removed from office, as a single side note. i mean, bill clinton went through -- he was keel hauled. >> yeah, yeah. >> this guy get a single side note. >> just a pesky asterisk. but, you know, politicians and presidents for years in washington have been using david petraeus as cover. if you can get underneath -- >> republicans said that name over and over. >> wrap yourself in the petraeus flag and you got im

investigation for potentially inappropriate e-mails he sent to this woman, jill kelley, the tampa socialite triggered the petraeus investigation. we'll get to exactly how in just a moment. the defense department's inspector general is going through e-mails allen and kelley sent to each other. >> the primary thing is that, you know, she wants her privacy protected. and i think that she's going to probably come out at some point and make a statement. >> privacy, of course, for all players involved is just a pipe dream at this point. and just how are they connected? it started, of course, with the bombshell on friday, david petraeus resigned from the cia because of an affair with his biographer, and fellow west point grad, paula broadwell. the man who co-wrote the biography with broadwell said he was clueless that there was an affair going on. >> sure, both of them looked back on what has now tran spired and realized they both made the biggest mistakes of their lives. and i assume both of them re great it tremendously. but i would bet both of them, you know, sort of come roaring back

it. broadwell wasn't only e-mailing the other woman in the scandal, jill kelley. good morning, everyone. i'm paula faris. we have a couple more layers. >> the other, other woman. >> the other other. >> get your flowcharts out to follow the story, folks. good morning. i'm rob nelson. reporters will have a chance to question president obama about the story today. it his first news conference since his re-election. >> as if he doesn't have enough on his plate. right? >>> also this half hour, we have reported here about dangers of cheerleading. go team. go, rob. go "world news now." you probably know where we're going with this one. we have the latest example from last night in the nba. >> pretty horrific to watch. we'll tell you exactly how this one ended. >> hope she's okay. >>> we're hearing this morning from paul ryan. he tells our john karl about the shock of last tuesday night and whether president obama now has a mandate to govern in his second term. some interesting comments from the former veep candidate. >> whether or not he is considering 2016. >>> we mentioned the guy

investigation for alleged inappropriate communications with jill kelley. >> the sex scandal began when kelley received harassing e-mails from petraeus' biographer and mistress paula broadwell. >> fbi agents were at paula broadwell's north carolina home last night for more than four hours. >> the fbi agent who launched the investigation has sent shirtless pictures of himself to jill kelley. >> you know remember when we said you couldn't have made this case up. >>> president obama will likely nominate u.s. ambassador susan rice to replace hillary clinton as secretary of state. >> the founder of the mcafee software company is wanted for questioning in a murder. mcafee hasn't been seen since. >>> evacuated south of san francisco, huge water main break, cars up to their tires in water and mud. >>> a flight in brazil almost ended in tragedy and every dramatic moment, all of it captured on camera. >> all that -- >> oh! >> unbelievable grab for a touchdown! >> and all that matters. >> very disappointing. struggled for about three months to get this ticket going. losing never feels good. >> on