For two years, the FBI has kept an investigation open into the scandal involving retired four-star Gen. David Petraeus — and Republican Sen. John McCain believes that's long enough.
McCain, in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, urged the investigation into whether Petraeus committed any security violations during his extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell be brought to an end, one way or the other,
CNN reports.
Petraeus resigned his position as CIA director over the Broadwell affair in 2012, retaining his security clearance, and the former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq has advised the Obama administration on its strategy involving the Islamic State (ISIS).
McCain, the Arizona senator who will chair the Senate Armed Services Committee in January, feels the investigation, based on classified documents allegedly found on Broadwell's personal computer, "apparently
remains unresolved nearly two years later and that the only information that has come to light is through leaks by unnamed sources within the U.S. intelligence committee with knowledge of the matter.
"Furthermore, the fact that you and others within your department have weighed in publicly on the case raises questions about whether this investigation is being handled in a fundamentally fair and appropriate manner."
It's not the first time that the administration's motives in continuing the investigation have been questioned.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has pressed Holder in the past over the Petraeus case.
"If he has done something wrong, charge him. If he has not, let him go,"
Chaffetz told Bloomberg News. "At this point I don’t know what their motivation is. But I worry they will let this linger until the president leaves office."
Chaffetz, noting that Petraeus has not criticized the administration since he left the CIA, told Bloomberg, "When the president has the ability to charge him with crimes, maybe it affects your perspective. I don’t know."
McCain wrote to Holder, "Without commenting on the underlying merits or anticipating the outcome of the investigation, I can conclude this is a circumstance in which the principle of 'justice delayed is justice denied' is certainly at play, and that this matter needs to be brought to resolution."
Praising Petraeus's record and expertise, McCain wrote, "At this critical moment in our nation's security, Congress and the American people cannot afford to have this voice silenced or curtailed by the shadow of a long-running, unresolved investigation marked by leaks from anonymous sources."
Since his resignation, CNN notes, Petraeus has worked with investment firm KKR and taken academic positions with Harvard, the University of Southern California, and the University of Exeter.
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