This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," November 13, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Here are new explosive developments tonight that are raising some very serious questions about the investigation into General David Petraeus and why it was kept secret until after the election.
Now, let's begin with the news that another top military leader, four-star General John Allen now finds himself in the middle of this growing scandal. Now, he currently serves as the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. And he reportedly exchanges hundreds of e-mails with this woman, Jill Kelley, the Tampa socialite who first reported to the FBI that she had been receiving bizarre messages from anonymous accounts that were ultimately traced back to Petraeus biographer turned mistress Paula Broadwell.
But what exactly did the e-mails from General Allen to Kelley say? Well, senior defense officials characterize the messages as, quote, "flirtatious in nature" and as quote, "inappropriate." We have just learned that two U.S. officials tell Fox that it was more than just flirting. One official described some of the e-mails as sexually explicit and the equivalent of phone sex over e-mail.
Now Allen, who is married, denies a sexual affair took place, but something here is not adding up. And as we heard yesterday from the father of Patricia Broadwell, quote, "This is about something else entirely and the truth will come out. There is a lot more here than meets the eye."
Now, I'm beginning to think he may be right. Because if we are to believe the story that we are now being told, all of this started because Paula Broadwell sent anonymous e-mails to Jill Kelley. Now, e-mails that according to the Daily Beast can be described as quote, "Kind of cat fight stuff." Messages that include phrases such as, "Who do you think you are? You parade around the base. You need to take it down a notch."
Now, none of them reportedly referenced violence, and yet the FBI launched a full investigation. And now one of the most decorated military leaders in our history has been removed as the head of the CIA. Essentially he has been silenced just days before he was scheduled to testify before congressional investigators.
Even more concerning, all of this unfolded before the election, but we, you, were not told about it until President Obama was declared victorious.
And speaking of the White House, well, they are still peddling the farfetched story that the president was not informed about the Petraeus affair until after Election Day.
Oh, really? Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: This investigation has been going on for months. How is it that the White House didn't have any idea of this until the day after the election and the Congress a few days later?
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I would refer you to the FBI. They have, as I understand it, protocols in place for when they notify the legislative executive branches of the investigations. And you know, it is simply a fact that the White House was not aware of the situation regarding General Petraeus until Wednesday and the situation regarding General Allen until Friday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right. So, the FBI knew all about this investigation and the FBI director knew all about the investigation. He briefs the president at least once a week, but we're supposed to believe that an extramarital affair involving General David Petraeus -- the head of the CIA -- never came up? Well that's about as believable as blaming the Benghazi terror attack on the YouTube trailer.
And that is exactly why we cannot let the soap opera here divert us from what is important. Now, this story is more than just a sexual failing by men in power, it's very much about the Benghazi scandal and the Obama administration's role in it.
Now David Petraeus, he is essential player in this scandal, he briefed members of Congress and apparently blamed the attacks on the anti-Muslim video and calling this, quote, "spontaneous mob violence." And U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who on the Sunday talk shows misled you, the public, by blaming the quote, "unplanned attacks" on the anti-Muslim video, said her talking points came from the intelligence agency. Is that true? And if so, why did it happen?
Also, we're told that Paula Broadwell had access to classified information on her computer. If so, from whom did she receive it? We also know that late October, General Petraeus, he traveled to Libya to conduct his own review of the Benghazi attack, and while in Tripoli, he personally questioned the CIA station chief and other CIA personnel who were in Benghazi on September 11th when this attack occurred. Now, they all knew this was a terror attack and so did our state department. Remember, they were watching all of this in real time.
But David Petraeus is not the only or even the key actor in all of this. Now, we have got Hillary Clinton, we've got Eric Holder and of course, we have President Obama. What did they know? When did they know it?
And joining me now, Jay Sekulow from the American Center for Law and Justice, and former CIA covert operations officer and president of Diligence LLC Mike Baker.
Gentlemen, welcome to "Hannity."
MIKE BAKER, DILIGENCE LLC: Thank you.
JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE: Thanks, Sean.
HANNITY: All right. Jay, where do we begin? What do you think?
SEKULOW: Well, I think the first thing you've got to find out is that we really had an October surprise in the election, we just didn't find out about it until November. The situation with General Petraeus, while tragic for his family, I think you've said it right, is not really the issue. I mean, it's a horrible set of events. But we had our chief CIA director, chief spy for America so to speak, compromised. The attorney general of the United States knew this in September and yet failed to tell the President of the United States that his CIA director was being investigated by the FBI. This is implausible, not possible.
HANNITY: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. We don't know --
SEKULOW: I cannot imagine that Eric Holder would have done this. It makes no sense to me. If he did, it was dereliction of duty on his part.
HANNITY: But he might not have done it. That's the point. He might not -- I mean, he may have told the president. I mean, the White House --
SEKULOW: The only people that know that, let's face it, are the president of United States and Attorney General Holder. But this the question that the American people need to ask right now. How is it that the chief of the CIA was under an FBI investigation, the Department of Justice not only was aware of it but they were conducting it. The attorney general was aware of it in September and he failed to tell the president of the United States that the President's CIA director was under an investigation. It's not plausible.
HANNITY: I don't think it's plausible either. Nor do I think their excuses on Benghazi -- why didn't they give the added security that they requested before? Why during the attack -- you know, Paula Broadwell one of thing that she is saying here is Petraeus himself knew that they were crying out for help at the consulate. And that is what caused Ty Woods the Navy SEAL to not to stand down after given orders and risk his career, ultimately give his life, because he knew Americans were in jeopardy, and we're told Charlie and Lamb (ph). She's watching this in real time. What do you think Mike?
SEKULOW: Right. And Sean, here is the tragedy of this whole thing -- and you're focusing on it correctly -- and that is Benghazi. We have four Americans that are dead. We've got a CIA situation that is questionable at best. We've got an administration that is not giving us the information. We still don't have the facts on Benghazi. You've got Dianne Feinstein saying, this is not right, we should have this information. You have got Leon Panetta saying, if this investigation was going on the leaders of the Congress should have known about it as should the president of the United States.
HANNITY: All right. Michael --
SEKULOW: Look at the entire situation, and you ask yourself this question, what is really at play here? Did General Petraeus admit to a bad act? Yes, he did. Are there consequences for that? Yes, his resignation was accepted.
HANNITY: Hang on, Jay. We got to have Mike --
(CROSSTALK)
But the real question is he's supposed to testify in Benghazi. Now, what are we going to have to do? Subpoena him?
HANNITY: Mike?
BAKER: Yes, I mean, I've been involved in counter intelligence operations in the past. And, you know, there has been some question over, you know, why was the FBI involved? Well, the FBI got involved -- the start of this, I think if you look at it, I think it's quite plausible. You know, Jill Kelley has a friend who is a bureau field agent. And you know, apparently the bureau field agent might had a jones for Jill Kelley. So, she brings this problem to him. And what does he do? Well, he is a friend and he kind of pushes this thing inside the bureau to get it investigated. That is kind of the way how it goes sometimes. You know, you have to have a network in there. Otherwise, yes, if it just had been anybody, there had been no relationship, this might never have kicked off.
HANNITY: Mike, let me ask you this.
BAKER: Go ahead.
HANNITY: What about Broadwell saying Petraeus knew about Benghazi's not only plea for help, but her claim that the CIA at their annex, a mile away from the consulate, that they were holding Libyan militia which may have precipitated all of this. You know, this is what the president, he was able to escape for two months and not get asked by this biased, abusively biased news media in this country and to lead up to this election about, you know, were they holding prisoners? Where was the president? What did he know? Did he know about requests for help? Did he know about what it was happening that night? Why did he to go Vegas? Why did he say for two weeks after, this is, this is not a terrorist attack, I don't think so. When we knew it was a terror attack in real time.
BAKER: No, I mean, there was no secret as to the security problems up in Benghazi. You know, there was security problems in Benghazi as soon as they established that facility, you know, over a year ago, when the -- settled on a revolution. So, there was no surprise there. There was sort of a failure, there was an administrative and logistical failure to put in place the security procedures that needed to be there to protect U.S. personnel overseas. So, that part needs to be addressed. There is no doubt about that. The idea that perhaps, you know, there is all sorts of a conspiracy theories running around right now.
HANNITY: All right. Let me ask a legal question to Jay.
BAKER: All right. Go ahead.
HANNITY: All right. Jay, last legal question. Only because we are running out of time. We've got to get to the fundamentals here. Who know what, when?
SEKULOW: Right.
HANNITY: What did they know, when they did know it?
SEKULOW: Right.
HANNITY: What if we find out the president of the United States lied, because I do not believe that he did not know what was going on. I do not believe two weeks after when everybody knew that this was not related to that YouTube video, I do not believe what he was saying to the American people. If he lied, what does that mean?
SEKULOW: Well, if he lied the consequences, of course, would be significant including impossible impeachment if he lied. But Sean, there's another question here, it's not just if he lied. The question is, if the Attorney General of the United States knew this information which he clearly we now know, regarding the situation with David Petraeus, he did know.
We had our national security compromised just because of this activity going on.
And you had the president of the United States communicating with the CIA director that is under an FBI investigation. And I understand that these things can start internally, but the fact of the matter is, this investigation reached the attorney general of the United States and he doesn't tell the president? It doesn't make sense.
HANNITY: It doesn't make sense. A lot of this doesn't make sense. The truth is going to come out. One way or the other, they can.
SEKULOW: Absolutely.
HANNITY: They can obfuscate, they can delay, it's coming out. Guys, thank you for being with us.
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