FBI seizes classified documents from Paula Broadwell’s home, criminal charges could follow

The FBI seized classified materials from Paula Broadwell’s home this week and prosecutors are reportedly trying to determine whether to charge David Petraeus’ former mistress with a crime.

Broadwell, 40, told investigators she ended up with the secret military documents after taking them from a government building, ABC reported. The FBI raided her North Carolina home late Monday in a pre-arranged meeting where they carried out boxes of documents, computers and evidence.

Broadwell has denied she came across the classified materials during the course of her relationship with Petraeus, who resigned last Friday after just 14 months as head of the CIA. Citing “poor judgment,” Petraeus admitted to the affair -- apparently while he served as head of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The position, like that the CIA, afforded him top secret security clearance.

An extramarital relationship is a breach of top secret security requirements.

President Obama said Wednesday he has seen no evidence the affair has harmed national security.

Broadwell, an Army counterintelligence reservist and Petraeus’ biographer, also has a high level security clearance. But the documents found in her possession, “marks a renewed focus by investigators” on how she obtained the materials and if national security might have been compromised, The Washington Post reported.

Senior FBI officials are expected to brief the House and Senate Intelligence Committees this week on the Petraeus investigation.

Agents will also determine whether charges are warranted, ABC reported. Broadwell might also face disciplinary action or no punishment at all if investigators determine no impropriety occurred.

Broadwell’s possession of documents wasn’t the first time her close relationship with Petraeus, previously believed to be only professional, had raised eyebrows in the U.S. intelligence community.

In an October speech at the University of Denver, Broadwell apparently revealed an unreported detail about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya that left four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, dead.

“Now I don't know if a lot of you heard this, but the CIA annex had actually – had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get these prisoners back. So that's still being vetted," she said.

The CIA denied the claims, calling them “not true.”

But the comment has left many to wonder if she was either mistaken or, as The Washington Post surmised, engaged in a “name-dropping implication of Petraeus’ knowledge, either deliberately or mistakenly.”

Petraeus was due to testify to Congress on Thursday about the Benghazi attacks but his appearance was thrown into question after his resignation. He has now agreed to speak with lawmakers, but the details and timeframe was not yet known.

He could also face a court-martial over his affair, although it was “unlikely” military experts told the rightist “New American” website. Adultery as a “stand alone” offense and without proof of a security breach would not be a top priority for military prosecutors, the site said.

Also ensnared in the Petraeus sex scandal is Marine Gen. John Allen, who could face a court-martial if he was found to have carried on an extramarital affair with whistleblower Jill Kelley, Politico reported. Kelley’s complaints to the FBI about harassing emails allegedly from Broadwell launched the probe that led to the end of Petraeus’ career.

During the FBI investigation, several potentially “inappropriate” communications with Gen. Allen surfaced. Allen has denied any sexual relationship with Kelley and sources close to the top battlefield commander in Afghanistan say they strongly doubt a relationship occurred.

By Victoria Cavaliere / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS