David Petraeus, the former CIA director whose shining career in public service came crashing down after an affair with his biographer, will be sentenced Thursday for leaking military secrets to her while she was writing his book.
Petraeus agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a $40,000 fine and two years’ probation for him, but no jail time.
The judge is not bound by the recommendations and could sentence Petraeus to as much as a year in prison.
The sentencing starts at 2 p.m. ET in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Petraeus’ biographer, Paula Broadwell, lives with her husband and children.
Prosecutors say Petraeus, a retired four-star general who led U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, gave Broadwell eight binders of classified material when she was writing his biography in 2011. When he resigned as CIA director, Petraeus admitted having an affair with Broadwell.
The military secrets were used as background for “All In: The Education of David Petraeus,” Broadwell’s glowing biography, which came out in 2012, before the affair was made public. Prosecutors say no classified material was published in the book.
Petraeus resigned from the CIA in November 2012. He and Broadwell have publicly apologized for the affair.
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Source: NBC NEWS