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Thursday, Nov 29, 2012 4:39 PM UTC

Petraeus tells friend: “I screwed up royally”

In a letter to an old Army friend, Petraeus takes the blame for the scandal around his affair

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Topics: CIA, FBI, David Petraeus, Paula Broadwell, Jill Kelley,

Petraeus tells friend: “I screwed up royally (Credit: Wikipedia/Department of Defense)

Retired Brig. Gen. James Shelton leaked a handwritten letter from David Petraeus, his old Army friend, in which Petraeus takes responsibility for his affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell: “I paid the price (appropriately) and I sought to do the right thing at the end of the day,” Petraeus wrote.

“I screwed up royally,” Petraeus writes in the note to Shelton, sent November 20. He also notes that he and his wife are trying to work through the affair: “Team Petraeus will survive though [I] have obviously created enormous difficulty for us,” Petraeus wrote. “Holly is, however, once again demonstrating how incredibly fortunate I was to marry her.”

Shelton leaked the note to the New York Post, ABC News and the Daily Mail.

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

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