general john allen and former c.i.a. director and retired general david petraeus signed letters to the court that bear four star general emblems and are dated five and a half weeks ago. the judge in the case had a different view. he expressed profound concerns about ms. khawam's extreme distortions and severe psychological deficits. he called khawam a psychologically unstable person with an unsteady moral and ethical compass. >> pelley: now, to be clear, that case involves jill kelley's twin sister. you've been trying to reach both women today. what did you find? >> we got natalie, the twin sister's, lawyer, who didn't address the judge's comments there directly but allowed that any custody hearing involving children is an excruciatingly sensitive, painful and personal proceeding but he says he's not representing her any more. we also got abby nole a very high profile lawyer representing jill kelley now and he said as far as getting letters from petraeus and general allen, friends the have the right to write letters for f

general john allen, the top u.s. an, under scrutiny for some communications with a woman who was the one who sparked the investigation into general petraeus. the web doesn't stop there. so what does this breaking scandal mean for congress and the white house? more things to do on taxing and spending decisions. we're going to talk about the fate of the fiscal cliff. plus he's a pioneer of the internet anti-virus software. he's now wanted in questioning for the murder of a longtime friend. new details in this bizarre search for john mcafee. that's ahead this morning at 7:00. >> don't go away. >> the tip -- >> there will be developments by 7:00. new ones, trust me. >> thank you, soledad. >> 44 minutes past the hour. thousands of people in new york city and long island now entering, if you can believe it, week three without power. after superstorm hurricane sandy. and anger is boiling over, especially at lipa. that's the power company that serves long island and the hard-hit far rockaway in queens. over a lack of power an

general allen now dragged in. where are we? inappropriate e-mails to kelley but general allen's saying through intermediaries he did not have an affair with this woman. >> this might be a basic question here. if there are flirtatious e-mails back and forth, is that grounds for dismissal or punishment? >> reporter: right. >> what is that in the military role? >> reporter: what are we talking about here? if you call someone sweetheart or hon in an e-mail, can you lose your career over that? we asked that question around the pentagon and you get nonspecific answers. basically, under military law, anything you do, as an officer, especially a senior officer, that brings discredit on the military, you can be held liable for. they -- i mean the blunt fact is, they can get you if they want to get you. that's the actual reality here. so depending on what these e-mails show, depending on what was said, depending on what the intent was, i think this will all come out. but you know it is interesting. defense secretary panetta went right to

general john allen was stationed in tampa when he was at u.s. central command. so was general david petraeus. jill kelley worked as sort of a social liaison with a lot of the commanders there. in fact, she's been -- won awards for her work with some of the military families, and the military down there. now, paula broadwell started e-mailing jill kelley. and from what we know, some of those e-mails basically took the tone of, you know, stay away from david petraeus, sort of, i know sort of your relationship with some of these other generals, it's inappropriate. at the time it didn't make sense. because what we've been told is, david petraeus and jill kelley are family friends. that david petraeus and his wife holly have spent time with jill kelley and her husband. that there was no romantic involvement between petraeus and kelley. but apparently, broadwell may have thought so. and so, started this whole e-mail chain because of what she may have believed, which now has spiraled to include not only petraeus, but general john allen. i know that's a lot. but it is ha

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 s

. >> reporter: some lawmakers are coming out in support of general allen? s not guilty of any improper behavior. i think he deserves to have us withhold judgment until the investigation is completed. >> reporter: general petraeus was scheduled to testify today about the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. in li

now it reaches into general allen. a lot of questions about the fbi and the timing and just a lot swirling around. we have a hearing this afternoon on some of the cables we've received regarding benghazi. it's a classified briefing, but i'm sures there's going to be a lot of discussion about all these things during that briefing. >> do you think that the intelligence leaders should have been notified sooner of an fbi investigation going on for months and months into the cia director? >> i was with diane fine stein, we were both on a sunday program this week and watched her comments, but talked to her back before we both went on and it's almost beyond belief this would be happening and the leaders of our intelligence community would not know it's happening. there are a lot of questions. they're multi layered questions. i will say i did listen to the end of your last segment and, you know, i've had very high-level conversations at the cia over the last several weeks and certainly before and i still will say it's almost b

i think this general allen thing is different from general pa contemporaneous but general pa contemporaneous' infidelity has got allen up in this point. >> rose: that may mean he has somebody's back. >> information as well. >> general allen is still the commanding general in afghanistan so i think it would be unusual for the man to undermine the man who is still in charge of 68,000 troops in afghanistan. martha is right they are describing these e-mails hundreds of e-mails between general allen and jill kelly as flirtatious in nature. general allen insists he did not have a sexual relationship with jill kelly who is a socialite known who host parties at her house in tampa. also hosted the pa trace family and they were known to visit socially with the petraeus family in washington. this is now in love square if you will. there wasn't necessarily love between all of them but the connection is growing all around. things that concern people on capitol hill what was the consent of these e-mails because hundreds of e-mails is still a lot. martha describes people at the pentagon pea are saying thes

general allen and jill kelley. the same jill kelley who had contacted the fbi about receiving harassing e-mails from petraeus biographer and former mistress, paula broadwell. allen, who once worked for petraeus at the u.s. central command, denies any wrongdoing as investigators look through 20,000 to 30,000 pages of documents. now, i want to make it clear what we know at this time is that it's not clear how many of those documents may include potentially inappropriate communication. but the new allegations have raised serious questions tonight about the culture of relationships in the military, and we're going to have more on that in a moment. but first, we go to our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. she has more on this developing story, breaking headline after headline today. barbara, where is general allen right now? what is his reaction to these allegations of potentially inappropriate e-mails? >> reporter: well, erin, general allen is said to be here in washington. in fact, he flew here from afghanistan, b

now, general allen, top u.s.n, is being investigated by the defense department for alleged flirtatious e-mails that he exchanged with kelley, this was over a two-year period. >> kelley is pleading for privacy, even though she finds herself in the middle of a real-life soap opera. we're now hearing her voice for the first time in a 911 call to tampa police last weekend. she called to complain about the people outside her house. listen. >> you know, i don't know if by any chance, because i'm an honorary consul general, so i have invileability 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 because it's against the law to cross my property, since this is now like, you know, it's vie owable. >> all right. i'll let the officers know. >> thank you. >> we have team coverage this morning. jill dougherty is at the state department. brianna keilar is in our washington bureau. jill, defense secretary leon panetta delivered new comments on this

general allen was already set to leave afghanistan, as i mentioned. ation hearing for general joseph dunnford, carol, the man who is set to replace allen in afghanistan is going to go ahead as planned thursday on capitol hill. it was to be the same day. so president obama also -- or from the white house president obama's also urging congress in this statement to move forward quickly with that, carol, so that, obviously, there's someone in place in afghanistan, especially as president obama's looking at these 68,000 u.s. combat troops who are set to be coming home going into 2014. >> got ya. brianna keilar from the white house. >>> the other drama unfolding in washington, trying to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. we'll tell you what's happening this week. questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. bp has paid overthe people

a sex scandal that's caused david petraeus his job as cia director now general john allen's next job is in jeopardy. >> the u.s. commander in afghanistan will not become nato's top general just yet while the pentagon invesgates his communications with campus socialite jill kelly. bob orr has new information on this scandal. bob, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, norah and charlie. general allen has been forced to cancel meetings scheduled this week on capitol hill. his nomination is on hold and thursday's confirmation hearing is postponed. the head of nato is backing allen and leon panetta also offered some guarded support. >> no one should leap to any conclusions here. general allen is doing an excellent job in leading those fors. he has my continued confidence to lead our forces and to continue the fight but his nomination has been put on hold as a prudent measure until we determine what the facts are. >> reporter: that caution was echoed at the white house. >> he has faith in general allen, believes he's doing and is doing an excellent job. >> reporter: james incarnate engin

and you wake up this morning and now general allen a part of an investigation. what's your reaction to this one-two punch? >> well, you know, general petraeus i have known him since he was 25. he's probably the most brilliant commander we have produced since world war ii. so it's a damaging blow to national security to lose him in this position. he had to resign, risk-taking behavior is probably unacceptable by anybody. >> when you say risk-taking, is it the possibly exposure of his e-mails? you're not talking about his personal life right? >> well, the cia director gets a lifestyle polygraph. he has a security detachment 24 hours a day. he's under intense scrutiny. so that's why general petraeus said he had to resign. it wasn't acceptable. so off he goes. now the thing with general allen beats me. 30,000 of pages of material, most academics don't produce that much volume during their career. so that one probably need to reserve judgment until the facts come out and they get to the bottom of it. >> we can't stress that in both of these situations with paula broad

counsel on sunday of this fbi investigation into general allen. panetta turned the matter over to the pentagon's inspector general and then told the white house that same day. the u.s. official tells nbc news that the chairman of the joint chiefs, general martin dempsey, called general allen monday night to inform him of the defense department investigation. this morning the national security council spokesperson tommy vietor said the president has put on hold his nomination pending the investigation of all allen. general allen continues to lead as a he has so ably done for over a year. meanwhile, the fbi is trying to wrap up the case involving paula broadwell. on monday night a team of fbi agents removed boxes and other items from her north carolina home. it was a consensual search which, according to a senior law enfo enforcement official, is part of an effort to complete the investigation into whether she may have violated laws against cyber stalking or cyber bullying by sending those anonymous e-mails to kelley. as we know more about the cont

now she's linked to general allen. what else can you tell us. >> reporter: well, that's right, michelle. she was complaining about harassing e-mails from paula broadwell. she is 37 years old. she is from tampa florida and essentially she's a socialite. she hosted parties for david petreaus between 2008 and 2010. and david petreaus said he had frequented her home for these parties and she is married. >> and david petreaus he stepped down but what's the status of his affair and could he be charged for anything? >> reporter: well, apparently the affair ended four months ago according to officials. the affair started two months after he became head of the cia. now, even after the affair ended, the two reportedly kept in touch because she was writing her dissertation about when he was a u.s. commander overseas. as for charges, the thinking is they're looking at this as a possible military infraction, not necessarily a violation and we're talking about john allen at this point. not necessarily military violation, or let me s

general allen. he afghanistan commanding general also implicated in this sex scandal. as well as an unnamed f.b.i. official who was taken off the case for becoming personally involved. the statement from tommy vi tabour of the spokesman on general allen's involvement, at the request of the secretary of defense, the president put on hold the nomination of general allen as the head of the european command. pending the investigation of general allen's conduct by the department of defense i.g. this is where we begin. bring in panel. a.b. stoddard, associate editor of the hill. bill kristol editor of the "weekly standard." mara liasson, national political correspondent of national public radio. in san diego, syndicated columnist charles krauthammer who appears to be at the san diego aquarium. i'm not sure where he is. is that where you are? >> i'm in the shark tank so i have to talk quickly. >> bret: let's start with you, charles. what about this? we have been talking about it for a couple of days. your t

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 absolutely clear that the e-mail exchange between jill kelley and john allen were innocuous most of the time. at some point john allen may say to her, thanks, sweetheart, that's purely in this source's opinion because he's from virginia and that's a colloquialism many people might use from that area and she may have said you looked good on television last night, but nothing of a flirtatious or serious nature alleged and this source unclear what exactly the inappropriate nature of these e-mails would have been, saying they were sent to both his pe

john allen took control of the forces in afghanistan after general petraeus left and who president obama has nominated to become nato's supreme allied commander in europe. the e-mails from allen were potentially inappropriate with some flirtatious in nature. today, jay carney said while the confirmation hearing for allen to become supreme commander was postponed, the president fully supports him. >> he has faith in general allen, believes he's doing and has done an excellent job. >> eliot: defense secretary leon panetta took time to address the complaints overs petraeus. >> i believe that there is a responsibility to make sure that the intelligence committee are informed of issues that could affect, you know, the security of those intelligence operations. >> eliot: joining me once again is charles swift a former judge advocate general corps attorney who works as a criminal defense attorney in seattle. sir, thank you for joining us. >> thank you governor, for having me. >> eliot: you just heard the defense secretary who is uniformly respected. but i gotta ask you do. >>gree there was -- d

have they said anything in regard to general allen? >> thus far, no statement from the jill kelley camp about the allen relationship. no. >> also, let's check in now with kristen welker, kristen fill us in what the white house reaction has been, at all, we understand that general allen is in washington, ahead of what was going to be a confirmation hearing, where does this stand right now. >> that confirmation process has been put on hold for general john allen. they're speeding up the confirmation process for his replacement in afghanistan. we're awaiting of course for the white house to respond on camera. i can tell you that the briefing will likely focus on exclusively on this issue the fallout from general petraeus and now general john allen. white house released this statement in the early hours of this morning, we havegraphic of it. it says, quote at the question of the secretary of defense, the president has put on hold his nomination of general allen as saceur pending the investigation of john allen. that's coming from tommy viet

her brother and still not talking, officials say the investigation was triggered in may, when general john allen received an e-mail called "kelley patrol." sources say they warned the general to stay ay from her, that she could ruin them, e-mails that were forwarded to her on the account she shares with her husband, scott, thinking she sent it at a joke kelley said she told general allen she had not sent the e-mail but was concerned she was stalked or she never realized the impact the e-mails would have. the people close to the kelleys say jill kelley never had an affair with general allen, and the pentagon has found no evidence to the contrary, but sources say there is enough evidence to warrant an investigation. she turned over all the e-mails, including to general allen, never recognizing the impact they would have kelleys say jill kelley never had an affair with general allen, the sources say she never had an affair, but the sources say the e-mails had enough of an appropriate situation to warrant an investigation is enough evidence to warrant an investigation. >> general allen is doing an e

general allen will remain in his job. secretary has asked for the general's pending nomination, as nato's top commander to europe will be delayed. rob and paula? >> thank you for sorting all of that out on this tuesday morning. thanks. >>> a lot of layers to this story to say the least. what's making it newsworthy is what access did paula have to classified information? was national security ever at risk? that's why this is getting so much attention beyond the soap opera-like details of this. it's really the access issue and national security. >> layers, would be an understatement. >> lots of questions. >>> another developing story overnight. the search is on for tech pioneer john mcafee, wanted for questioning in a murder. mcafee, who gave his name to the famous anti-virus software, lives in the country of belize, where his neighbor has been found shot to death. police there called the 57-year-old a person of interest in the case. and a lot of people describe his recent behavior as eccentric. >>> and the voice behind elm