Washington (CNN) David Petraeus made a last-ditch effort Sunday to show President-elect Donald Trump that his guilty plea for revealing classified information to his mistress and biographer shouldn't disqualify him from serving as America's top diplomat.

Petraeus, the former general and CIA director, was asked on ABC's "This Week" what he would say to Republican senators who are hesitant to vote to confirm a man who pled guilty to exactly what they spent months accusing Hillary Clinton of doing via her private email server.

"What I would say to them is what I've acknowledged for a number of years. Five years ago, I made a serious mistake," Petraeus said.

"I acknowledged it. I apologized for it. I paid a very heavy price for it and I've learned from it," he said. "And, again, they'll have to factor that in and also obviously 38-and-a-half years of otherwise fairly in some cases unique service to our country in uniform and then at the CIA and then some four years or so in the business community, during which I've continued to travel the world -- nearly 40 countries -- in that time as well."

His comments come as Trump considers a list of contenders for secretary of state that includes Petraeus.

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