Did the FBI botch its investigation of David Petraeus' affair?

Though law enforcement officials discovered Petraeus' affair as early as this summer, they kept President Obama and members of Congress in the dark

David Petraeus
(Image credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Files)

The capital continues to reel from the sex scandal surrounding David Petraeus, who abruptly resigned last week as the head of the CIA after revelations that he'd conducted an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. As new details emerge, the spotlight has shifted to the FBI's role in uncovering the affair. "High-level officials at the [FBI] and the Justice Department were notified in late summer" of Petraeus' indiscretions, say Scott Shane and Charlie Savage at The New York Times. Yet they failed to fill in President Obama until two days after the election, and kept members of Congress who oversee intelligence matters completely in the dark. A guide to the FBI's role in Petraeus-gate:

How did the FBI get involved?

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