WASHINGTON (CNN) — Justice Department prosecutors are recommending charges be filed against former CIA Director David Petraeus for disclosure of classified information, a federal law enforcement official tells CNN on Friday.
Attorney General Eric Holder will have to ultimately decide whether to seek an indictment against the prominent military officer. The CIA and Justice Department had no comment.
The official says that the FBI has provided sufficient evidence to the Department of Justice to bring felony charges against David Petraeus for providing classified information to his former mistress Paula Broadwell while he was the director of the CIA. He allegedly provided documents to Broadwell who was working on a book with the former director.
The New York Times was first to report that the charges had been recommended.
The officials say the Department of Justice has had the information “for a little while.”
An attorney for Petraeus did not respond to a request for a comment.
In 2012, Petraeus told CNN’s Kyra Phillips that he never passed classified information to Broadwell.
Broadwell remains under investigation.
According to a source familiar with the Petraeus investigation, the prominent military officer and CIA head at the time used an alias based on the Keanu Reeves character in the movie “Point Break”–Special Agent Johnny Utah–to correspond with Broadwell, who went by the name Tyler, Johnny Utah’s girlfriend in the film.
