Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn said he would be “happy to see” former CIA Director David Petraeus high on President Donald Trump’s list of pardons.
“Well, I think Gen. Petraeus is an incredible patriot, and helped guide our country during a very difficult time in Iraq and basically pulled a rabbit out of a hat there,” Cornyn (R-Texas) said in an interview Thursday morning on Hugh Hewitt’s show. “But he made a terrible mistake. What I respect about Gen. Petraeus is he admitted it candidly and publicly, and took responsibility for it. You don’t see that much in Washington.”
Petraeus is a retired four-star Army general who was appointed by George W. Bush in 2007 to lead the war efforts in Iraq and rose to CIA director during Barack Obama’s presidency – attractive resume data points that once made him a viable candidate for the presidency.
But in 2012, Petraeus resigned as CIA director after an FBI investigation uncovered emails between him and former military officer Paula Broadwell that indicated Petraeus was having an extramarital affair with Broadwell, who also co-authored Petraeus’ biography.
The 2012 scandal was only the beginning of a legal battle that at one point threatened Petraeus with prison time. It ended in 2015 when he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense of mishandling classified materials in connection with giving Broadwell eight notebooks full of highly sensitive information. He received probation and a $100,000 fine.
Trump recently said he’s considering pardons for disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and TV personality Martha Stewart. On Wednesday, after Kim Kardashian West lobbied him, the president commuted the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson – a 62-year-old great-grandmother who was set to serve out a life sentence without parole for a nonviolent drug offense.
He earlier pardoned conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty for using straw donors to make illegal contributions in a 2012 Senate race.
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