'The truth will come out': Father of Petraeus' mistress defends his daughter - as ex-CIA chief 'faces military probe over adultery'

Paul Kra nz described daughter Paula Broadwell as an 'exceptional person'

Affair took place 'after general retired in 2010' - as adultery is a crime under martial law which could result in jail sentence



Mr Kranz, a retired basketball coach, told MailOnline that the shock his family has been dealt is 'just the beginning of a process'



General Petraeus stepped down as CIA director on Friday after it was revealed he had been cheating on his wife of 38 years with his biographer



The father of David Petraeus' mistress Paula Broadwell defended his daughter today as an 'exceptional person', saying he supports her 100 per cent after details of her sordid affair with the decorated general were made public.



General Petraeus's relationship with Broadwell, his biographer, was revealed on Friday after an FBI investigation which suspected corruption between the pair.



Broadwell's father Paul Kranz, a retired high school basketball coach, suggested that the explosive revelations that led to Petraeus resigning as CIA director, have been used to cover up a bigger scandal.

It emerged today that the disgraced general could face a military tribunal if there is evidence he began the affair while he was Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.



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Family: Broadwell's father Paul Kranz, left, said he is standing by his daughter and expects more details surrounding the affair will emerge. Her mother, Nadene Kranz, is pictured right



Illicit affair: General Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA on Friday after it emerged he was having an affair with Paula Broadwell (right)

Mr Kranz told MailOnline today that the shock of the past few days is 'just the beginning of a process'.

He spoke this morning on the snow-covered drive of his modest bungalow in Bismarck, North Dakota, where he lives with wife Nadene. He said: 'I've been advised by attorneys not to talk right now. This is private property.



'I hope you understand this is the beginning of a process. I can't say more than that. I couldn't if I wanted to.'



On Sunday, Mr Kranz elaborated further on the scandal which has propelled his 40-year-old daughter into the national media glare. He told the Daily News : 'This is about something else entirely, and the truth will come out.'

Shock revelations: Paula Broadwell, who has two young sons, pictured with her entire family

High school hero: Paula Kranz (left in her yearbook photo) was valedictorian, student council president and homecoming queen (right)

Other members of Broadwell's family seemed similarly shaken, revealing that they only learned of the alleged affair as they watched reports of Petraeus's dramatic resignation last week.



'They didn’t find out about the affair until they saw it on the news Friday night,' the grandmother of Broadwell's husband, Scott, added.

'Everyone's reaction was shock. We were all shell-shocked.'



Petraeus quit his post as CIA director while offering an apology over the affair. He issued a statement acknowledging the affair after President Obama accepted his resignation, which was announced by the CIA soon after.

Secrets: Paula Broadwell (second left) watches as General David Petraeus (right) and his wife Holly Petraeus (third left) arrive for a Senate Select Intelligence Committee in 2011





Secrets: Paula Broadwell (second left) watches as General David Petraeus (right) and his wife Holly Petraeus (third left) arrive for a Senate Select Intelligence Committee in 2011

‘After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,' he said in the statement.



'Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation.’

COULD PETRAEUS BE PROSECUTED BY MILITARY? QUESTIONS RAISED OVER WHEN AFFAIR TOOK PLACE David Petraeus could face a tribunal over his affair with Paula Broadwell as the military classes adultery as a crime. Supporters have been quick to cement the timeline of the disgraced general's affair with his biographer, enforcing the fact that it began after he had retired from the Army in 2010.

Colonel Steve Boylan, a friend and former spokesman, said today that the relationship with Broadwell began in November 2011 - two months after Petraeus became CIA director - and ended four months ago in July 2012. It suggests that the illicit relationship began only after Petraeus had left the military - and so exempting him from prosecution. Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice makes it a crime for members of the Armed Forces to commit adultery.

Punishment is up to a year in prison, dishonorable discharge and all military benefits being taken away.

Broadwell first met Petraeus in spring 2006 during a visit to Harvard, when he was a Commander at Fort Leavenworth.

Due to her background as an Army veteran, she was invited to meet the distinguished military man and spoke to him about her research work. For the next three years, she worked on her biography of Petraeus, gaining extensive access and accompanying him to Afghanistan.

David Petraeus' wife is so angry at his affair with his biographer that 'furious would be an understatement', a former spokesman for the ex-CIA boss has revealed.

Speaking to ABC News , Colonel Steven Boylan said of Holly Petraeus, who has been married to the former general for 38 years: 'Furious would be an understatement.'



According to the clearest timeline of Broadwell and Petraeus' alleged affair, it started in November 2011 and ended in July 2012.



The affair was discovered when Mrs Broadwell, 40, sent a spate of threatening emails to 37-year-old Jill Kelley, who works for the State Department in May.



The warnings, that told Mrs Kelley to 'stay away' from Petraeus, left her feeling threatened and she contacted the FBI.



The emails were originally investigated as potential cyber-crime.

However the trail led to sexually explicit emails from an account created under a fake name by Petraeus, according to the Wall Street Journal .

Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and an Army Reserve officer, is married to Dr Scott Broadwell and has two young sons, Lucien and Landon.



The family live in Charlotte, North Carolina. She has not responded to multiple emails and phone messages.

Broadwell, who spent three years doing researching for her book, had extensive access to Petraeus in Afghanistan.

In the biography, Broadwell revealed she first met him during his visit to Harvard in spring 2006 when he was a Commander at Fort Leavenworth.

'I was among the students invited by the school to meet with the general at a dinner afterward, because of my military background,' she explained.

'I introduced myself to then–Lieutenant General Petraeus and told him about my research interests; he gave me his card and offered to put me in touch with other researchers and service members working on the same issues.

Meanwhile, information has emerged about Jill Kelley who allegedly received harassing emails from Broadwell, leading federal investigators to discover Petraeus' sexual indiscretion.

Old days: Broadwell (top row, second left) is pictured at a friend's wedding when she attended West Point

Glamor: Paula Broadwell with her husband Dr Scott Broadwell at a black-tie event to raise money for military charities

Kelley, 37, lives in Tampa, Florida and serves as an unpaid social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base, where the military's Central Command and Special Operations Command are located.



SEX SELLS: PETRAEUS BIOGRAPHY JUMPS 76,690 PLACES ON AMAZON

Her personal life may be in tatters but at least General Petraeus's mistress and biographer Paula Broadwell can comfort herself with booming book sales.

It was revealed on Friday that the married mother-of-two had an affair with the CIA director while writing All In: The Education Of General David Petraeus. The book is now ranked 102 in the Amazon chart - a significant leap from its place at 76,792 before news of the illicit affair came to light. The book's description says that 'Broadwell embedded with the general', basing her work on hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews. However the reviews were less than favorable. One reader Adam Smith wrote: 'You'll love this book if you like bureaucratic history and thinly veiled hero worshiping [sic].' Robert J. Alberts added: 'Paula is obviously a fan and didn't have any objectivity in the book. Petraeus is either awesome or super awesome. OK. Got it. Next? There is no more depth.'



Staffers for Petraeus, who turns 60 on Wednesday, said Kelley and her husband were regular guests at events he held at Central Command headquarters.

In a statement on Sunday, Kelley and her husband, Scott, said: 'We and our family have been friends with Gen. Petraeus and his family for over five years. We respect his and his family's privacy and want the same for us and our three children.'

A friend of Mrs Kelley told ABC News that she and Petraeus were close, but that the relationship never went any farther than friendship.

A military official who identified Kelley said she had received harassing emails from Broadwell, which led the FBI to examine her email account and eventually discover her relationship with Petraeus.

The new revelation raises the possibility that Broadwell was growing increasingly jealous of a government employee whose job it was to keep in contact with Petraeus.

Mrs Kelley, who feared for her safety, contacted the FBI.

It is also claimed that Broadwell used Petraeus' own Gmail account to send the emails, and when the FBI began to investigate an obvious national security issue instead uncovered explicit messages between the two sent from the decorated war hero's own account - indicating an affair.

She frequently visited the spy agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to meet Petraeus in his office, accompanied him on morning runs around the CIA grounds and often attended public functions as his guest, according to two ex-intelligence officials.

Petraeus broke off the steamy relationship with Broadwell before it was exposed by the FBI probe, according to friends of the retired general.

Deception: General Petraeus resigned as director of the CIA on Friday after coming clean that he had been cheating on his wife of 38 years, Holly (pictured right)

The intelligence officer said she felt 'betrayed' by Petraeus after news of their affair broke in 2012 (Broadwell and Petraeus pictured together in this file photo)

Awkward: Holly Petraeus (left in white) and Paula Broadwell sit in the front row during the CIA confirmation hearing of US Army General David Petraeus

The FBI contacted Petraeus and other intelligence officials, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asked Petraeus to resign.

A former associate of Petraeus confirmed the target of the emails was Kelley, but said there was no affair between the two, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the retired general's private life. The associate said Kelley and her husband were longtime friends of Petraeus and his wife.

It has also come to light that Broadwell isn't the only biographer of Petraeus's who has gotten special treatment from him.

His first biographer, former U.S. News and World Reporter Linda Robinson, went to work for Petraeus at U.S. Central Command shortly after publishing her book, 'Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq.'

Jealous: Broadwell sent Jill Kelley, far right, threatening emails warning her to stay away from Petraeus. Pictured with Kelley is her husband, Scott, and Holly Petraeus

Success: Paula Broadwell, West Point graduate and military expert, on her book tour for the General Petraeus biography, All In

Petraeus' affair with Broadwell will be the subject of meetings on Wednesday involving congressional intelligence committee leaders, FBI deputy director Sean Joyce and CIA deputy director Michael Morell.

Petraeus had been scheduled to appear before congressional committees on Thursday to testify about the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.



Morell was expected to testify in place of Petraeus, and lawmakers said he should have the answers to their questions.

But Feinstein and others didn't rule out the possibility that Congress will compel Petraeus to testify about Benghazi at a later date, even though he's relinquished his job.

Clapper was told by the Justice Department of the Petraeus investigation last week at about 5 pm on Election Day, and then called Petraeus and urged him to resign, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official.

First time around: Linda Robinson was the first biographer of Petraeus. In 2008, she published Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq

FBI officials said the congressional committees weren't informed until Friday because the matter started as a criminal investigation into harassing emails allegedly sent by Broadwell to Kelley.

Concerned that emails Petraeus exchanged with Broadwell raised the possibility of a security breach, the FBI brought the matter up with him directly.

Petraeus decided to quit, though he was breaking no laws by having an affair.

Questions have emerged over whether Broadwell leaked details of the CIA's investigation into the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

During a talk at the University of Denver on October 26, she said: '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,' according to the Daily Beast . 'So that's still being vetted.'

In response, the CIA denied that claim on Sunday when the tape of Broadwell's talk surfaced, saying that it was not true. The agency confirmed that since 2009 they have not had the authority to detain prisoners.

