. troops in afghanistan. and more than an affair? 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 lo

afghanistan for the book he wrote. cnn has not been able to reach broadwell for a comment and it's not clear whether she is the woman whom petraeus had the affair. the counterintelligence unit investigated the tip to see if there was a security risk. they said tl not suggestion that the fbi was investigating for wrong doing. the concern was that he could be in a vulnerable spot. >> and is there any information that you have in terms of this information that the fbi had as to whether this woman that you mentioned, paula broadwell, we'll talk more about her, that she would have accessed his information with his approval or unbeknowest to him? >> i know the two kept in touch. i've worked with paula professionally as well. i've reached out to her several times today and haven't gotten a response, but we know they continue to talk frequently. >> all right. thank you very much. suzanne's going to stay with us and just to let our viewers know, paula broadwell has been a regular guest on this program. we reached out to her as well today. fred kaplin joins me from slate.com, author and fran tow

afghanistan, he ran a campaign in iraq that was brutally savage, included arming, the worst of the worst. shiite death squads, sunni militiamen and go back to the training training that also had problems. to me, the questions of honor and integrity, i was raising those earlier. a number of other journalists covering petraeus were raising those concerns. you might not get that from someone at barbara starr at cnn who is essentially a spokesperson for the pentagon in many ways. so i think i just want to step back and have my piece because even the way the scandal is being covered is so different than how usual sex scandals are being covered where they hammer the guy. now everyone is saying oh, my god, he just went to the cia, how could he be, you know, he was susceptible to being seduced by this woman. give me a break. he has all his allies coming out to defend him where paula broadwell is there yet again, where are her protectors? >> barbara is not a spokesperson, obviously. let's move to -- >> not too obviously. i followed her coverage pretty closely as she covered my work before, too. >

and afghanistan today. we had 586,000 men in the jungles of vietnam. why is he going forward? you know, in the white house, then pennsylvania avenue, was not cordoned off so the protesters could come right up to the white house gates. you can hear in parts of the white house what they're chanting. they're chanting, hey, hey, lbj, how many kids did you kill today? he can hear it, his wife can hear it, his daughters can hear it, and yet he goes on. it's one of the unyielding terms. why. you have to say what is the human reason for this? >> and think of obama, jon, as somebody who seems to have that internal discipline not to do that, to kind of send -- throw good money after bad. if you look at iraq, if you look at afghanistan, he's quite unsentimental and is willing to pull back despite the fact this his defense secretary gates, general petraeus, general crystal, were all against the drawdown in iraq. i have a feeling that he has a certain kind of discipline that is going to make him cautious about doing that kind of escalation. >> i think the first term with the exception of the a

allen is the top u.s. commander in afghanistan. was nominated to become nato's supreme commander as well. he has denied any wrongdoing. so, how are these people linked to the scandal? how are they connected? follow us. we'll try to explain this. general patreaus resigned after admitting to having an extra marital affair with paula broadwell. a friend jill kelley asked to investigate harassing e-mails see whas receiving from paula broadwell. the "wall street journal" saying the fbi agent who initiated the investigation at kelli's request is under scrutiny. the agent has not been identified but allegedly sent kelley shirtless photos of himself. started with a complaint about harassing e-mails. he here's what we know about the woman who made that complaint, jill kelley, married to a cancer surgery, she has three daughters, lived in tampa, well-known among washington social circles. they have been friends with general patreaus and his family for five years. friends describe kelley as an innocent victim about e-mails accuse kelley of flirting with patreaus. how does this impact the careers of

. >>> several veterans who served in iraq and afghanistan are celebrating their 2012 victory. in fact, it was a his tore uk election for them. barbara starr has more on the veterans getting ready to take their seat in congress. >> reporter: republican tom cotton, a veteran of iraq and afghanistan was one of the big winners tuesday, seizing the fourth congressional district seat in arkansas. >> although i don't know what committee i'll be assigned to, ultimately i want to play a central role in helping guide america's national policy and foreign policy. >> reporter: cotton, a law school graduate was an infantry officer with the 101st airborne division. nine veterans from these wars have just won congressional seats, seven republicans and two democrats. >> this is definitely historical. there are going to be more iraq and after gaffe stan veterans. >> reporter: seth lynn says iraq and afghanistan veterans may finally have found their political voice. >> and i think a lot of people have come home, really established themselves in their communities, become leaders, you know, in busin

is asking that his successor in afghanistan, general joseph dunford that his nomination be fast tracked and pushed along as quickly as possible. >> ayou mention the 20,000 to 30,000 pages of e-mails. that's just, as i said, stunning. when we're talking about the petraeus side of this investigation, the time line is very important. adultery is a criminal act in the military. but officials say the relationship between petraeus and paula broadwell began after petraeus retired. but what about john allen? he is the current commander in afghanistan and he's married. what kind of jeopardy is he in legally? >> reporter: legally, he could be prosecuted under the uniform code of military justice. as an officer in the united states military. there's a couple parameter that's have to fit there. the first one being there has to actually be sex. it can't be just in appropriate e-mails or flirting or inappropriate behavior. they have to actually have sex. one or both of the people have to be married. and it has to influence the honor and integrity of the service. i'm told by a source who's, yo

about 447 soldiers' pets from iraq and afghanistan. but bob ottenhoff, the president of the charity watchdog group guidestar says that the numbers just don't seem to add up. >> i can't understand how to connect the dots between how much money is spent on fund-raising to how much money is spent on programming and what the sources of those revenues are, and i also can't really measure the impact of this organization. what difference are they really making? >> reporter: and this isn't the first time terri crisp has been at the center of a questionable charitable fund-raising drive involving animals. in 2005, after hurricane katrina, she showed up on tv stations and networks, including cnn, claiming to be rescuing stranded animals as part of her animal rescue charity called noah's wish. this is a former bookkeeper for noah's wish who wants to conceal her identity, unrelated to her work at the charity. she says she watched soon after katrina as the donations came pouring in. >> there was cash. there were checks. there were cashier's checks. there were letters, heartbreaking letters, from

. general john allen, the commander of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan is now under investigation for alleged 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 yo

john allen, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, part of the story. >>> and just who is the woman who seems to be 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. o

spoke with ten members of the armed forces deployed in afghanistan by phone to thank them for their service and wished them a happy thanksgiving. the president also met with members of the oregon state men's basketball team. his brother-in-law coaches that team. i'm victor blackwell. up next an "ac360" special report, "the battlefield at home." >>> welcome to this "360" special report, "the battlefield at home." the challenges facing vets, a tough economy, questionable charities and more. we look at charities, organizations promising to help wounded warriors, taking in tens of millions of dollars from well-meaning americans. what's happening to some of that money? a lot of good charities out there, but after what we've found and what you see tonight, you may think twice the next time someone asks you for a donation. that's a shame and that's why we're keeping them honest. starting with the group the disabled veterans national foundation, dvnf. that's their seal you're looking at. according to their own tax filings they raised nearly $56 million in the past three years, a huge amount

killed in philadelphia than you would have if you were a soldier serving in the conflicts of afghanistan and iraq. that is absurd to me. >> reporter: since 2006, more than 7,000 students have come through the cradle to grave program. >> like i don't want that to happen to me. like i want to be able to live, be something that my mom would want me to be. >> we want to really teach them the preciousness of life, and that in an instant your life can be changed forever. >> reporter: change they want for the better. sarah hoy, cnn, philadelphia. >>> who is black in america? is being black determined by the color of your skin, by your family, by what society says or something else? our soledad o'brien will examine provocative questions about skin color and race in our new documentary "who is black in america?" that premieres sunday december 9th at 8:00 eastern on cnn. frpts mitt romney lost the election but may have made history. his loss could go down as the last presidential campaign to bank on the white vote for a win. i spoke about this to al cardenas and patrick milsap who is newt gingrich

met with families who lost loved ones in the iraq and afghanistan wars. >>> lawmakers have pointed questions about the fbi's investigation into general petraeus' extramarital affair. they want to know why they weren't told, and they want to know if national security was breached. peter king talked to candy crowley today. >> it seems that this has been going on for several months and now appears that the fbi did not realize until election day that general petraeus was involved. it just doesn't add up. >> petraeus resigned from the post as cia director friday and mitt head had an affair. and then sources said that the affair was with whiz biographer paula broadwell. more on that in a few moments. >>> bipartisan agreement appears to be in the work. charles schumer and lindsey graham says that their path including a tough love to citizenship. they teamed up in 2010, and that plan went nowhere, but the republicans may have fresh motivation after election losses last week. >>> death toll from superstorm sandy has climbed to 113 with two more deaths reported in new york. two weeks after t

afghanistan, is being investigated for flirtatious e-mails he exchanged with kelley over a two-year period. >> kelley is pleading for privacy now even though she finds herself in the middle of a real-life soap and a here. we are hearing her voice now for the first time in a 911 call to tampa police, that was last weekend, she called to complain about the people outside her house citing diplomatic protection, which she doesn't have. listen to this. >> you know i don't know if by any chance, um, because i'm on in their council general, so i have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property. i don't know if you want to get technical, but because it's against the law to cross my property since this is now like you know it's inviable. >> let's start with jill, leon panetta delivered new comments on the scandal hours ago. is the defense department at the tip of the investigation and what's the latest here? >> well, we'll get to that vote of confidence by mr. panetta in a second, but really the main thing that seems to be now clear is exactly how this unraveled. and it all has t

afghanistan, the top commander john allen is himself the subject of a pentagon investigation of allegedly inappropriate communications with jill kelley. yes, that jill kelley, we're talking about the same tampa housewife whom david petraeus' then mistress paula broadwell apparently saw as rival. a whole new chapter in a saga that since last friday has been one bombshell after another. and so far, all of them have something to do with kelley. she's a volunteer military liaison at the air force base, home of the u.s. central command in tampa, florida. kelley complained to the fbi last spring when paula broadwell was having an affair with petraeus allegedly harassed her with jealous e-mails. petraeus admitted the affair with broadwell but denies any elicit contact with kelley. so does general allen who was scheduled for a senate confirmation hearing this very week to become nato's supreme allied commander. today that's on hold, but he will continue in his position as the investigation continues. and all of that as the pentagon digs through 20,000 to 30,000 pages of e-mails and other communic

international says it rescued about 447 soldiers' pets from iraq and afghanistan, but bob ottenhoff, the president of guidestar says the numbers just don't seem to add up. >> i can't understand how to connect the dots between how much money is spent on fund-raising to how much money is spent on programming and what the sources of those revenues are, and i also can't really measure the impact of this organization. what difference are they really making? >> reporter: and this isn't the first time terri crisp has been at the center of a questionable charitable fund-raising drive involving animals. in 2005, after hurricane katrina, she showed up on tv stations and networks, including cnn, claiming to be rescuing stranded animals as part of her animal rescue charity called noah's wish. this is a former book keeper for noah's wish who wants to conceal her identity, unrelated to her work at the charity. she says she watched soon after katrina as the donations came pouring in. >> there was cash. there were checks. there were cashier's checks. there were letters, heartbreaking letters, from

, the top military leader in afghanistan, that may cost another commander his reputation. we now know that the president knew of allen's troubles on friday, a short time ago the white house, press secretary, responded to the latest turn of events. >> he has faith in general allen, believes he's doing and has done an excellent job, at eye save and i would refer you to the pentagon for the process under way with regards to general allen. >> all right. right now let's get to the heart of general allen's reported troubles, his relationship with jill kelley. cnn's nick payton walsh just spoke with a senior official who is close to general allen. nick, this official is certain he's claiming that there was no affair between kelley and the general. is that correct? >> reporter: absolutely. not even that there wasn't just an affair, there was not anything of romantic nature between them. absolutely clear his mind he views jill kelley as a bored socialite who many times knew lots of the commanders at centcom because of her role there as an honorary ambassador, organizing social events, but abso

loved ones in the iraq and afghanistan wars. >>> some lawmakers are outraged that the fbi left them in the dark about its investigation into general david petraeus' extramarital affair. new york congressman peter king talked with cnn's candy crowley today. >> it seems this has gone on for several months and now it appears they're saying the fbi didn't realize until election day that general petraeus was involved. it just doesn't add up. >> petraeus resigned from his post as cia director after his affair with his by og gra fer paula broadwell went public two days ago. much more on the investigation in a few minutes on cnn. >>> a bipartisan plan for immigration reform appears to be in the work. charles schumer and lindsay graham say their plan includes a tough love path to citizenship. graham and schumer teamed up on immigration back in 2010, and that plan went nowhere. republicans may have fresh motivation after election losses last week. >>> two newly reported deaths in new york have raised the death toll from superstorm sandy to at least 113. nearly two weeks after the storm crashed t

they had crossed back into afghanistan. >> the president normally known for his caution had chosen the riskiest course possible and it paid off. >> i can report to the american people and to the world that the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda. >> usa! usa! usa! >> to those on the left who watched how the obama presidency played out, the surprise was his aggressiveness. to those on the right, the surprise was his aggressiveness. they kept thinking that he was a community organizer from chicago who had no concept of how to use american power. >> since then, president obama has pulled troops from iraq. created a plan to leave afghanistan. and drastically expanded the use of armed drones to target terrorists. >> he may be known as the drone president. the president who relied on technology to do the business of troops. >> my most sacred duty as president and commander in chief is to keep the american people safe. drones are one tool that we use. >> even if the target is an american. in 2011, one of those targeted for death was

thanksgiving. >> hi. i'm master of arms second class alexandra lewis in bagram, afghanistan. i want to say happy thanksgiving to my son, terroristan, and all my friends and family in lubbock, texas. thank you to my brother for the support. i couldn't have done it without you guys. i love you, and i'll see you soon. ♪ ♪ ...or you can get out there with your friends and actually share something. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is on, offering some of our best values of the year. this is the pursuit of perfection. offering some of our best values of the year. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of ame

. general is caught in the same tangled web. john allen, top commander in afghanistan, is being investigated by the pentagon for allegedly sending inappropriate e-mails to a married woman, the same woman whose complaint of threatening e-mails from general petraeus' lover cracked the scandal wide open. barbara starr is trying to sort this out for us. it is rather complicated, what's the latest you're getting? >> it is still the same fundamental question for the last 24 hours, wolf. why is john allen being investigated and how on earth did he get caught up in this? marine corps general john allen denies an extramarital affair with jill kelly, the florida socialite whose concern over threatening e-mails led to an investigation that revealed an affair between cia director david petraeus and his biographer, paula broadwell. a pentagon official told reporters allen who commands the war in afghanistan is adamant he did nothing wrong. a senior official close to allen tells cnn of kelly there is no affair, she's a bored socialite. a u.s. official says there appears to be nothing criminal

, you know, you have lost the battle in afghanistan. you, the united states, need to pull back and look after your own country. that is their opinion. they've said this before. they've constantly said the u.s. should pull out. the problem, of course, is not just the statement but what is happening on the ground. that is that there is an active war still going on in afghanistan. and the initial goal of the obama administration was to either defeat the taliban or beat them to the negotiating table. this has not happened. and there is a real issue about what the state of play will be. many people incredibly worried about what happens once the u.s. leaves. as you know, the u.s. is committed under president obama to leave at least by the end of 2014 and there's a huge amount of pressure coming from many corners to leave earlier than that. the taliban is still very active and the whole place could descend into another round of civil war. that's the issue going on there. it will be a big issue for the president going ahead. >> on afghanistan voters did not have a real choice. there wasn't

not sure any of us breathed until we got word they had crossed back into afghanistan. >> the president normally known for his caution had chosen the riskiest course possible and it paid off. >> i can report to the american people and to the world that the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda. >> usa! usa! usa! >> to those on the left who watched how the obama presidency played out, the surprise was his aggressiveness. to those on the right, the surprise was his aggressiveness. they kept thinking he was a community organizer from chicago who had no concept of how to use american power. >> since then, president obama has pulled troops from iraq. created a plan to leave afghanistan. and drastically expanded the use of armed drones to target terrorists. >> he may be known as the drone president. the president who relied on technology to do the business of troops. >> my most sacred duty as president and commander in chief is to keep the american people safe. drones are one tool that we use. >> even if the target is an america

there is right and wrong. let's not make that mistake. in afghanistan, when you went and hunted down osama bin laden, america killed kids, not deliberately, and no one blames you for supposedly being a terrorist. so there is right and wrong. >> gaz saturday gaza and afghanistan -- >> stop making the comparison. >> gaza is not afghanistan. >> the terrorists are hiding, they are hiding behind kids. they are hiding within hospitals. that's a terrorist act. the people who are killing those kids are the hamas. it's the palestinians killing their own kids, let's be very clear about that. there is a right and wrong. terror is wrong. defending yourself is right. >> after decades of american companies moving jobs overseas, there is something that happened today that is absolutely incredible. and we are going to tell about you it. if we want to improve our schools... ... what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong fo

, senior correspondent and editor for "the washington post." rajiv, you've covered the war in afghanistan extensively. did you get invited on trips with david petraeus, how well did you know him and how well -- >> i covered him off and on first back in iraq when he was a division commander up in northern iraq and more recently when he was top commander of all u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan and in that later job i did travel around the country with him. he would give remarkable access to journalists. oftentimes it was under very strict ground rules that things were off the record but he did open himself up to press coverage because he thought it was important for the mission to get recognized out there, but also i believe because he also liked to see himself at the center of the coverage. >> so that remarkable access paid dividends for petraeus's image. would you say, would you argue with the notion that many of the jurmts who dealt with him, who know him, have tended to go easy on him on this unfortunate scandal? >> i think some have. others have been a little harder edged and fairer

shawn kirby is saying good-bye, leaving his wife a second time for deployment in afghanistan. >> i've actually already been there for about seven months and now i'm going back for another three. >> the first couple of months was really, really hard because it was like not being with him every day after being together for nine years is -- that was a shock. >> reporter: while they may be thousands of miles apart this holiday season, they found a way to stay connected. it's called the battle saint bracelet created by cynthia lemay. >> it has all the saints that protect the military. st. joseph of coopertino had this legend of lev tating so he protects i'vaters. when he wear that, know there's 7 5,000 people around the world wear this now and we wear this in support of you and your service and everything you've done for pit. >> a sentiment all too familiar for this mom. >> we had seven members of my family that were serving. so around a big bon fire one night we began to hear stories of wars and close calls that were compelling and heartbreaking and listening to those stories and realizin

general john allen, who is the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, is being investigated for trading alleged quote flirtatious e-mails with ms. kelley over the last couple of years. we're hearing from ms. kelley for the first time in a 911 call to t don't know if by any chance, because i'm an honorary consul general, so i have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property. i don't know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well. but now it's against the law to cross my property since this is now like, you know, it's inviolable. >> all right. no problem. i'll let the officers know. >> thank you. >> meantime, the senate intelligence committee wants to be briefed both by petraeus and his replacement, michael morrell. cnn's jill dougherty is at the state department digging into some of this really confusing web i think it's fair to say. good morning to you, jill. >> hey, soledad. you know, let's begin with that honorary consul general. in tampa, apparently, from what we can understand, jill kelley was totally a volunteer. she was a volunteer with an intern

and afghanistan and financial and iraq. usually when you have a series of things, it's like this is an a and b and what happens when all five are as. >> it was basically awful. >> in the months leading up to inauguration, his adviserer watched in horror as the stock market dropped for than 500 points in a day. >> it was a bottle of bourbon sitting there in the campaign and it had been there for a year and a half, and i said if ever there was a day to have a drink of the emergency bourbon, it's the day. >> and then it got worse. >> the next day, dropped another 500 points and then late in the campaign, it happens again. and some of said, where is the bourbon and i said the bottle is empty. >> the emergency bourbon was gone and the economy was in dire shape. one month before his inauguration, barack obama called engine urgent meeting during a snow tomorrow. >> he meets for the first time with all of his economic advisers as a group for four hours. everyone in the room is struck with the gravity of the situation. >> i said mr. president, this is your holy bleep moment, you are facing t

iraq and afghanistan where he helped the nation put the wars on a path to a spochbsable end. as the dredger of the kri cia he has continued to serve with characteristic, intellectual rigger, dedication and patriotism. by any measure he has made our country safer and stronger. it's only a two-paragraph statement. here is the last paragraph. today i accepted his resignation as the director of the central intelligence agency and i'm confident the cia will thrive and carry out its mission and i have the upmost confidence in the aekting director and the men and women of the cia. my thoughts and prayers are with david and holly petraeus who has done so work to help families through her own work and wish them the best during this difficult time. there will be some consistency obviously at the cia through this. there have been some five different directors in eight years who have headed the agency and the president himself pointed out deputy director who was a career intelligence professional with 32 years at the agency. >> i have to ask about the timing. we learned today that -- i'm glanci

. ♪ troops in afghanistan made their own version but rather than use carly's video they did a shot by shot remake of the one made by the miami dolphins cheer leaders there. they got it down. every hair flip, every hip dip, every hand ear like a phone but instead of coming out of a troop, you can see there they were buried in sand and no tour buses in afghanistan. these soldiers ride in tanks. nicely done, guys. >>> mexican president felipe calderon is trying to get the united states out of mexico. we'll explain in this week's cnn hero. >>> i get on my bike and go ride up in the mountains but real just brings peace. and in my drug and alcohol use it was the opposite. i got into it pretty young. by the time i was 15 i was using pretty serious drugs. when i got sober, i lost my group of friends because they were still out drinking and using. i got into boxing, climbing, triathlon. i had a new group of friends. i completely redefined myself. i'm scott strode and i want to help people find a better life being sober. >> welcome to friday night climbing. >> they offer about 50 events a week.

broadwell. she has spent a year in afghanistan with petraeus. here is a picture from their website. right now the cia is investigating a tip that she is the other woman. she is the woman named in that fbi tape. petraeus has not admitted an affair directly with her. but he said, yesterday afternoon, i went to the white house and asked the president to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position as d/cia. after being married for over 37 years, i showed extreme poorly judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. this afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation. author of "the secrets skreof t fbi," and suzanne kelly. let's start with suzanne kelly. this is a massive blow, really, to everybody in the white house, to general petraeus, to his wife and to the country. the country has lost one of its great military men in scandalous circumstances. >> you know, piers, that's absolutely right. the first shock was he admitted to having an affair. this is someone wit

in afghanistan. >> jill kelley attended the citizen's academy and that's where they met. >> reporter: and the story expanded. general john allen, the top commander in afghanistan who, by the way, says he did not have an affair. >> you have two four-star generals involved here. several women involved. one set of twins and a guy, a shirtless guy from the fbi. don't you miss the simplicity of the clinton years? >> well, dave, here's a little simplicity. nancy pelosi is keeping her job. >> i made a decision to submit my name to, once again, serve as the house democratic leader. >> now, if she can only get those talking points straight. >> we did not have majority, but we had the gavel. excuse me, we don't have the gavel. >> somebody who seems to have the gop gavel, louisiana governor bobby jindal, the likely 2016 contender told republicans this week "stop being the stupid party." meanwhile, steven colbert told us to stop talking about 2016. >> do you think it's too early to talk about 2016? we don't think so. >> okay, fine, we'll go back to 2012. why do some folks want to go back to the

afghanistan, when you went and hunted down osama bin laden, america killed kids, not deliberately, and no one blames you for supposedly being a terrorist. so there is right and wrong. >> stop making the comparison. gaza is not afghanistan. >> the terrorists are hiding, they are hiding behind kids. they are hiding within hospitals. that's a terrorist act. the people who are killing those kids are the hamas. the palestinians killing their own kids. let's be very clear about that. there is a right and wrong. terror is wrong. defending yourself is right. >> as always, let us know what you think about that. >>> now let's check in with anderson cooper with a look at what's coming up on "ac 360." hi, anderson. >> hey, erin. we're live from gaza city tonight. we will be joined by wolf blitzer, who is live in jerusalem. also correspondents throughout the region. we have correspondents in egypt, also along the israeli border with gaza in some hard-hit towns like ashkelon that have been receiving so many of those hamas rockets. we've got, as i said, our correspondents all over the entire reg

and afghanistan. he was sworn in to run the cia a little over a year ago with vice president biden with his wife holly at his side. that was the swearing in. they've been married 35 years, have two grown kids. so how will this revelation exact the u.s. intelligence community? joining me now is fran townsend and bob baer and suzanne kelly. suzanne, what more can you tell us about the probe into the relationship with paula broadwell? do we know how long this has been going on? >> we don't know how long it was going on, but just the -- so they're the ones that would look into accusations of inappropriate access to classified information. individuals that hold clearances, are they doing what they need to be doing to make sure that information stays safe? is there any opportunity whatsoever that that information could be exploited by either a spy or anyone else who shouldn't have access to that information. so the fact that they were the ones looking into this, tells you that, you know, they were concerned about some of the e-mail things. let's back up for a moment. this was a tip that

sending inappropriate e-mails to kelly. allen is the top u.s. commander in afghanistan who is nominated to become nato's supreme commander. he has denied any wrong doing. >>> well, this is supposed to be his time to shine, and now only after a week after the re-election he has his hands full, of course, with the scandal as well. how is it going to, if it is, going to overshadow his initiatives? we'll ask our own fareed zakaria up next. oh, let me guess --ou see this? more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up. not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement. oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double. but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe

. petraeus is a highly respected, retired four-star general who commanded forces in both iraq and afghanistan. he was sworn in to run the cia a little over a year ago with vice president biden with his wife holly at his side. that was the swearing in. they've been married 35 years, have two grown kids. so how will this revelation exact the u.s. intelligence community? joining me now is fran townsend and bob baer and suzanne kelly. suzanne, what more can you tell us about the probe into the relationship with paula broadwell? do we know how long this has been going on? >> we don't know how long it was going on, but just the -- so they're the ones that would look into accusations of inappropriate access to classified information. individuals that hold clearances, are they doing what they need to be doing to make sure that information stays safe? is there any opportunity whatsoever that that information could be exploited by either a spy or anyone else who shouldn't have access to that information. so the fact that they were the ones looking into this, tells you that, you know, they were concerne

was the commander of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan. we get more on his legacy and unexpected resignation from chris lawrence. >> reporter: he sent this letter to the rest of the cia on friday admitting to them that he had an affair and that he went to the white house on thursday and asked president obama to accept his resignation. on friday, during a phone call, the president did accept that resignation. effectively shaking up the national security team just days after the election. by the time david petraeus got his first taste of real combat, he was a 50-year-old major general. in 2003, he commanded the 101st airborne during the march on baghdad. it was in iraq that he asked a roert, tell me how this ends suggesting trouble the u.s. would have there in later years. they gained the nickname king david, used affectionately by supporters and by those who labelled him a celebrity general in 2007 president bush assigned petraeus to lead the troops in iraq and he wrote the petraeus doctrine. a scandal brought him back to command another war when president obama fired stanley mcch

could have taken afghanistan, you could have taken iraq. usually, there's an "a," a "b." what happens when all five are as? >> it was basically awful. >> in the months leading up to inauguration, economic adviser austan goolsbee watched in horror as the stock market dropped more than 500 points in a day. >> there was a bottle of bourbon sitting there in the campaign. it had been there for a year and a half and i said, man, if there ever was a day to have a drink of this emergency bourbon, it's today. >> and then it got worse. >> the next day dropped another 500 points. and then late in the campaign, it happens again and somebody says, where's the bourbon? i said, the bottle's empty. >> the emergency bourbon was gone, and the economy was in dire shape. one month before his inauguration barack obama called an urgent meeting during a chicago blizzard. >> the president meets for the first time with all his economic advisers as a group for four hours. everybody in the room is struck with the gravity of the situation. >> i said, mr. president, this is your holy bleep moment. you are facing