Former Gen. David Petraeus, whose military career has been overshadowed by charges that he provided classified data to his mistress, has made a deal with the Justice Department in which he will plead guilty to one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material.
The charge's possible punishments include a fine and a maximum one-year prison sentence. We'll update this post when we have more information about the deal.
The plea agreement is one of several legal documents filed today in a U.S. District Court in North Carolina. News of the filings was passed to us by NPR's Carrie Johnson.
"The criminal Information charges the defendant with one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1924," Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said in a statement. "The plea agreement and corresponding statement of facts, both signed by the defendant, indicate that he will plead guilty to the one-count criminal Information."
The deal will allow Petraeus, who rose to the rank of a four-star general before becoming the director of the CIA, to avoid a trial.
Petraeus resigned from the CIA in November 2012, citing an extramarital affair with a woman whom investigators suspected of receiving secret data.
Federal prosecutors recommended filing charges against Petraeus in January. The question then became whether Attorney General Eric Holder would pursue a criminal case against the decorated veteran.
As we summarized in January:
"The nature of Petraeus' relationship with Army reservist Paula Broadwell emerged during an FBI investigation that was sparked by allegations from another woman, Jill Kelley, that she was receiving harassing emails. Those messages were reportedly traced to Broadwell."
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