Initially, the hubbub surrounding David Petraeus’ alleged affair with Paula Broadwell — and her catty emails to a perceived rival, local socialite Jill Kelley — was confined to the tony neighborhoods of Tampa, Fla., as the local FBI bureau investigated. But when FBI agent Frederick Humphries was alerted of the case by Kelley and feared any potential investigative work would be derailed because of the high statuses of Gens. Petraeus and Allen, he reached out to the Washington, D.C. office of Rep. Dave Reichert, a Republican congressman from the 8th district of Washington state, the district in which Humphries lived from 1985 until 2004, according to public records. Though Reichert wasn’t elected to Congress until 2005, he served as King County Sheriff during Humphries’ time working as an agent, suggesting the two might have had a close relationship. A spokeswoman declined to tell the Seattle Times why the FBI agent had decided to contact Reichert, but it is thought to be related to the four-term congressman’s co-chair position on the House Law Enforcement Caucus, which deals with issues affecting the law-enforcement community.
The New York Times was first to report, on Nov. 10, that Reichert’s office was alerted of the potential security alert. Reichert later referred the agent to the office of the House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Reichert’s office has declined to make any further comments on the case, although it issued a statement Monday confirming that they were alerted to the potential wrongdoing: “Our office stands by the accuracy of the original New York Times article as it pertains to Rep. Reichert.”