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Then-CIA Director David Petraeus and Gen. John Allen, commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, intervened in a Washington, D.C., custody battle in September, writing letters on behalf of a woman who was found by a judge to have "severe personal deficits in the areas of honesty and integrity."
The woman, Natalie Khawam, is the twin sister of Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, who has emerged as a central figure in the scandal that led to Petraeus’ resignation last week.
The letters, which have been obtained by NBC News, were filed in court on behalf of Khawam, who the judge hearing the case harshly criticized for a “stunning willingness to say anything, even under oath, to advance her own interests.”
At the time, Khawam was seeking to relax a judge's order restricting her visits with her now 4-year-old son. Holly Petraeus, the wife of the ex-CIA director previously signed an affidavit in support of Khawam, according to the lawyer for Grayson Wolfe, Khawam's ex-husband. The letters were first reported by the New York Post.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images file
Gen. John Allen, right, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and former CIA Director David Petraeus appear ath the White House on April 28, 2011.
The letters came to light after Kelley emerged as a key player in the scandal surrounding emails that officials say were written by Petraeus biographer Paula Broadwell – a trail of correspondence that led to Petraeus’ resignation as CIA director and a Pentagon investigation of Allen over what defense officials have described as “potentially inappropriate” emails he exchanged with Kelley.
The legal battle between Khawam and Wolfe has been bitter, according to court records. Both sides have accused one another of repeatedly lying to the court -- including about invitations to events involving prominent members of Congress.
The court records also shed some light on the lifestyle of the Kelley family: At one point, the judge -- who had directed Kelley's sister to pay child support and the legal fees of her ex-husband -- noted that Khawam lived "rent-free in Florida with her sister" in a home described as a "ten bedroom mansion in a beautiful neighborhood right on Tampa Bay."
The judge also ruled that Jill Kelley was a "patently biased and unbelievable witness" when she testified about an alleged case of domestic abuse by her twin sister's ex-husband.
In a Nov. 9, 2011, ruling, D.C. Superior Court Judge Neal E. Kravitz dismissed Kelley's testimony that she saw Wolfe push Khawam down a flight of stairs inside the Kelleys’ home. Kelley testified that her sister was holding the couple's baby in one hand and "somehow was able to stand her ground on the staircase" as Wolfe, "who is substantially larger and stronger ... pushed Ms. Khawam from above with both hands and all of his might."
Read David Petraeus' letter to the court
Read Gen. John Allen's letter to the court
"The court does not credit this testimony," Kravitz wrote, after calling Kelley an "unbelievable witness." He called it "part of an ever-expanding set of sensational accusations against Mr. Wolfe that are so numerous, so extraordinary and ... so distorted that they defy any common sense view of reality."
Amy Scherzer / Tampa Bay Times via Zuma Press
Natalie Khawam, twin sister of Jill Kelley.
Petraeus and Allen entered the case two months ago, penning separate letters attesting to Khawam’s parenting.
"My wife and I have known Natalie for approximately three years, getting to know her while serving in Tampa, Florida, through her friendship with Dr. and Mrs. Scott Kelley," Petraeus wrote in his letter dated Sept. 20, identifying himself under his signature as "General, U.S. Army (Retired.) "
He added that he has observed Khawam with her son on many occasions, "including when we hosted them and the Kelley family for Christmas dinner this past year." It was "clear to me," he added, that Natalie's son "would benefit from much more time with his Mother and from removal of the burdensome restrictions imposed on her."
Allen's letter, dated Sept. 22, which identified him under his signature as "General, United States Marine Corps," is similar. It stated that he had gotten to know Khawam while serving at the U.S. Central Command in Florida and observed her with her son "on multiple occasions" at "command social functions."
"In light of Natalie's maturity, integrity and steadfast commitment to raising her child, I humbly request your reconsideration of the existing mandated custody settlement," the letter concluded.
Defense official fires back, denies Afghanistan commander exchanged 'inappropriate' emails
A source familiar with Kelley’s views said Tuesday night that both Petraeus and Allen have been friends of Kelley and her sister Khawam for years. The source added: “When you're involved in a custody issue, you want letters of support. There is nothing unusual about that.”
Sandra Wilkof, the lawyer for ex-husband Wolfe, said the letters from both high ranking military men misstated the facts of the case. Both letters asked the court to change the terms of a "court settlement" between the couple. In fact, Wilkof, said, "There was no court settlement. There was a court order," she said, awarding custody to Wolfe and supervised visits for Khawam.
ISAF via Reuters file
Meet the people who have been pulled into the scandal that caused Gen. David Petraeus to resign.
Judge Kravitz has not given Wolfe a free pass. He wrote in the Nov. 9, 2011 ruling that Wolfe "does not possess an entirely healthy psychological make-up.” And he noted that Wolfe had taken “questionable deductions” on his tax returns and “may have been less than fully candid in his testimony about contacts he may have had with the FriendFinder online dating service.”
But he has saved his harshest words for Khawam, writing that “Mr. Wolfe … is much more honest than Ms. Khawam, and he conducts himself with far greater integrity.”
In the ruling, he found that Khawam had taken the couple's son to Florida when he was only four months old and refused to tell Wolfe of his whereabouts, ignored court orders to allow visits with his father, changed the boy's first name without his father's knowledge and made unfounded claims of abuse against her ex-husband.
"The evidence established that Ms. Khawam has extreme personal deficits in the areas of honesty and integrity," Kravitz wrote. "Ms. Khawam's false domestic violence petitions (and her equally false testimony at trial relating to many of the same allegations) are merely the most stunning examples of Ms. Khawam's willingness to say anything, even under oath, to advance her own personal interests at the expense of Mr. Wolfe, the child, and others."
Khawam's lawyer, Greg Jacob, with the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers, did not respond to requests for comment.
In the latest wrinkle in the case, Wolfe's lawyer filed a motion on Oct. 26 opposing the efforts of Khawam to modify the visitation schedule, saying that neither of the letters by Petraeus and Allen promised “corroborating testimony” relevant to the court's determination.
The motion also argued that Khawam had misrepresented social events she had asked the court to let her attend with her son. In one case, Wolfe's motion stated, Khawam had asked the court to let her take her son to a "family clambake" at "the personal invitation" of Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. In fact, the motion states, this was "nothing more than a … political fundraising event."
On other occasions, the motion states, Khawam had sought to take her son to events with "Senator Kerry" and the baptism of "former Congressman Patrick Kennedy's child" in New Jersey. In fact, the motion states, the invitation to be with Sen. John Kerry was a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee event in Martha's Vineyard and that he denied her request to take the boy to those events because he did not believe it was in "the child's best interests."
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hehehe.. generals will do anything for some tail.
When you get down to it it's another case of the Bland leading the Bland.
This story gets better every day. Who's next? Admiral Leahy? All because of these power groupie girl friends?
So Broadwell allowed another man to penetrate her uterus which bore the offspring of a beloved husband, secreting his bodily fluids, desecrating the sanctity of marriage ordained under the covenant of God's law.
W h o r e is too kinder a word to describe her.
You have issues dude.
it wont be long now. soon we will hear about strange disappearances, one or two dead bodies, and a few illegitimate children. soon these guys will start making professional athletes look like choir boys.
So much detail and info being released about Petraeus and Allen yet so little about the fatal Benghazi Failure.
Obama 's only statement is it's still under investigation after over two months while this tabloid like distraction of affairs and impropriety continues to detract from the Benghazi issue.
Don't lose focus and be distracted by the current scandal and keep your eyes on the ball with the Senate Hearing coming up on Thursday. It's a closed door hearing and you can bet the Lame Stream Media will try it's best not cover anything not beneficial to this administration as usual.
Do some research and seek other sources of other news that will convey the unclassified results of the hearing. Petraeus, if he truly is the patriot and honorably person his many peers claim him to be, he will testify truthfully to the events that occurred in Benghazi.
Panetta and Clinton should also be supoenaed as they are both directly in the chain of command responsible to pass on decisions received from the White House meaning from Obama. We'll see whether this hearing will be a search for the truth or just another Dog and Pony show with more cover up.
investigation by whom a lame duck congress with two idiots in the house sqwaking about conspiracy- this goes NOWHERE promise you- but I did hear from a reliable source that the FEMA camps are almost ready and pretty soon they will be coming for YOU
The reason for all the reporting about sleaze by NBC, CBS and ABC is soooo obvious! And the total silence by NBC, CBS and ABC about BenghaziGate is soooooo obvious! It's such a no-brainer. They are all trying to protect the man they worship- Barack Obama. They are dragging Petraeus and Broadwell through the mud to discredit them and to try to prevent Petraeus from testifying about what really happened at Benghazi. Obama tried to blackmail Petraeus to play ball with him or be exposed. Petraeus at first lied for Obama at the first Congressional hearing on September 15th. But Petraeus changed his mind about being involved in the cover up- and now Obama is out to get him. Meanwhile, Hillary and Leon are not available for testimony, Petraeus has been replaced, two other generals involved have been removed. Who is left to testify? Alas, Mr. President, this won't work when all is said and done. You will be impeached, removed from office, and become a textbook example of political power gone rogue- along with Tricky Dick.
Its very Enlightning that my fellow Americans have seen through the Main Strem Medias BS. Everyone has nailed it down in some way. Im relieved to see that. Lets hope Obama gets held accountable for his 360 days off from the white house and the 40 mil per person he blew along with his 6 percent of the Cabinet are former business owners. Reagan took off 3 days campaigning in 8 years. If you do you job you dont need to campaign Obama.
PS Clintons are a joke
'Khawam sisters' will soon be synonymous with "Mole" or "spy" in this decade of American history.
wonder what bill and hillary clinton think of this, after all ole' bill did get caught with his pants down in the white house.
Har har har... Boys will be boys... and sluts will be sluts...har har har..
wonder if they had a foursome- and no video what a shame
How is it that we know so much about this man's sex life in just a couple of days, but we're still waiting for answers on Benghazi 3 weeks later?
you stupid piece of white trailer trash put the barrel against your forehead and pull the trigger.
dan
chill dude, i know it must be hard for you in a time like this when you learn the piece of crap obama (the one you voted for) did nothing to help those americans. in the end obama and everyone involved will pay for this.
These sisters sure like to throw names around. Good judge. Our generals, not too smart after all.
This is why it just absolutely kills me when you nut jobs from either the right or the left talk about government conspiricies. This is probably the part that works the best, the military, and look how fuc&ing dumb they are, the head of the CIA for Gods and a Marine General, there are no goverment conspiricies, the goverment is to fuc$ing dumb. Eric Cantor, the FBI or how about the dumb As$ secret service agent in Colombia this is our govt. people, and they are stupid.
Dan,
You may well be correct about the fuc$ing dumb a$$ government, but
you should not underestimate the folks that want us dead and gone.
They thrive on fuc$ing dumb a$$es.
a totally unrelated subject, but has too be said....PBS is receiving government funding and know we learn a gay pedophile is a puppeteer for elmo. sesame street is nothing more than a bunch of pedophiles in costumes sexually abusing children and obama and the rest of the liberal democrats are supporting this. stop the funding and investigate sesame street.
Apparently you missed the story on the front page about the accuser recanting that anything happened until he was an adult, as the puppeteer had always claimed. And by the way, the original story did not state anything happend while the accuser was pre-pubescent, which is how pedophile is defined. Don't throw that word around without really understanding it's meaning.
Since Obama has a clear and direct line of communication, and authority, with top military brass, and government agencies, all indiscretions AND victories are a direct reflection of Obama's leadership. His line of authority within the military has more of a direct affect than it does with the civilian community. The Navy alone has fired more Commanding Officers within its ranks than all the other Presidents put together.
Obama needs to get his head together and quit this chaotic change. Short of anarchy, it has done nothing but create hate, a country divided, conspiracy theories, distrust, selfishness, debt, laziness, more debt, free loaders, etc. I am trying to figure out what good has come out of Obama. Lets see. Marijuana, gay rights, same sex marriage, Religion downgrade, Muslim upgrade, oh yeah and liberals forget our children because everyone who voted because of these reasons did it for their selfish beliefs and not for the future of our children.
General Dave's comfort level with Truth:
Khawam—Kelley’s twin--found by DC Superior Court judge Neal Kravitz to have a "severe deficit in honesty and integrity" with a “stunning willingness to say anything, even under oath, to advance her own interests, ” and Kelley herself having a "patently biased and unbelievable witness", including false petitions and false trial testimony . "The court does not credit this testimony," by Kelley, an "unbelievable witness" and "part of an ever-expanding set of sensational accusations against Mr. Wolfe that are so numerous, so extraordinary and ... so distorted that they defy any common sense view of reality."
Judge Kravitz found Khawam had taken the couple's son to Florida when he was only four months old and refused to tell Wolfe of his whereabouts, ignored court orders to allow visits with his father, changed the boy's first name without his father's knowledge and made unfounded claims of abuse.
Khawam requested the Judge to take her take her son to a "family clambake" at "the personal invitation" of Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse [apparently "nothing more than a … political fundraising event"], to events with "Senator Kerry" [apparently a DSSC event in Martha's Vineyard], and the baptism of "former Congressman Patrick Kennedy's child" in New Jersey—denied as not in "the child's best interests."
General Dave's comfortable with this--and what he tells Holly. What else matters?
Sure it's sleazy--so what?
STUPID. the whole thing is stupid. Leave these people alone and let them get on with their lives.
So when will Cantor be called to testify when/how he knew about this and why he hid his knowledge...?
...and why did he have a speed-dial connection to the evil twin sister...?
The devastating lack of judgement shown on the parts of Petraues and Allen regarding the character of their associates and the appropriateness of their intervention on Khawam's behalf sheds light on their military failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. They used their positions of authority for the personal gain of influential cronies in an attempt to subvert the judicial process. If these men are American heroes, we truly have no real values left in the leadership of our armed forces. Semper fi, sirs, semper fi.
And on which parts of Petraeus and Allen would that bad judgment have been shown?
FOX News Channel: "Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi..."
It's quite apparent to me that "the twins" both suffer from a psychological disorder. Their thirst to associate with powerful people and to hold themselves out as "connected"; to go to ANY lengths to get their way, etc.; I am certain are discussed in the DSM book and has a medical term. Any shrinks out there?
I look at Holly Petraeus and wonder. A close look at her face shows that she is a pleasant looking woman. She has hacked her hair off to be as unattractive as possible. She dresses as unattractive as possible. Everything about her screams don't touch me I have no interest in sex. Why would one of the most powerful men in the world come home after years deployed to her bed.
I don't get it. If Clinton's affairs had no effect on his ability to lead the country, what is the big fuss over Petraeus? Isn't it between he and his wife? Isn't this a double-standard on the part of those who supported Clinton through the Lewinsky fiasco.
How is the last name of these darling twin sisters pronounced, is it K-WAM! Seems like anything for money and prestige - that is of course if the news reports are accurate. Maybe one should not closely associate with them otherwise they may get k-wammed. Too bad about General Patreus getting involved with his biographer. So far, it is unknown about his association with the k-wams. Could be just social. Allen as well. From what I see, one cannot avoid parasites in those circles.
But hey, the media is looking good right now. Looks like they are regaining ability to investigate instead of using the whitewash brush.