The White House on Monday confirmed that former Army Gen. David Petraeus is still advising the White House on ways to fight the Islamic State in Iraq, even after Petraeus admitted to sharing highly classified material with his then-mistress and lying to the FBI about it.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest didn’t hesitate before responding to a question from a reporter asking whether some of the president’s top advisers are still in touch with Petraeus about the fight against the Islamic State.
“Obviously, Gen. Petraeus has served for a number of years in Iraq,” he said. “Over that time, he developed strong relationships with Iraqi counterparts, and he is legitimately regarded as an expert.
“So I think it makes a lot of sense for senior administration officials to consult him from time to time,” Earnest added.
Over the weekend, Newsweek reported that the former CIA director and top U.S. general in Iraq has been advising the National Security Council on Iraq and the Islamic State since last summer.
Petraeus, who served as Obama’s CIA director before stepping down when news surfaced of his affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, pleaded guilty to one count of mishandling classified information under a plea deal approved this month by Attorney General Eric Holder.
Justice Department documents filed with his plea agreement show that Petraeus admitted to keeping highly classified information in his unsecured home after he resigned from the CIA and sharing with Broadwell several of his personal “black books,” personal diaries that contained sensitive classified information.
He admitted that he initially lied about it to the CIA — an admission that would amount to a felony — but the Justice Department ultimately only charged him with a misdemeanor.
