Tag: Jill Kelley

These days, Tampa housewife Jill Kelley can't win, and South Korean rapper Psy can't lose.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it is rescinding her "title" of Honorary consul because she used it for personal gain.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun told South Korean reporters during a visit to Washington that Kelley inappropriately used her title for personal gain.

"It's not suitable to the status of honorary consul that (she) sought to be involved in commercial projects and peddle influence," Kim said, according to Yonhap news agency.

Psy, meanwhile, can do no wrong. (background here.) The South Korean Culture Ministry announced a few weeks ago it would be awarding Psy with the prestigious Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit, awarded for “outstanding meritorious services” to the arts. [More...]

The Real Housewives of Tampa evolve into Desperate Housewives: If you thought Natalie Khawam and Gloria Allred were going to answer questions about Gen. Petraeus, Gen. Allen or her sister Jill Kelley's relationship with them, you'd be mistaken.

Today's news conference was a publicity fest about Khawam's custody battle which Allred wants to turn into a women's rights issue. Does anyone care that Natalie and Jill played softball and tennis and like cooking and playing chess and piano? [More...]

The most excellent adventures of the Real Housewives of Tampa continue. Today's installment: Jill and Natalie's White House excursions. We even get a new unnamed player: the White House lawyer who invited them.

More interesting: Mayor of Tampa Bob Buckhorn has released his e-mails with Jill Kelley. The latest is Nov. 14, in which she refers to Paula Broadwell as a stalker and a criminal. What a name-dropper. In one, she calls Gen. Petraeus "Dave" . In another she knows that Gen. Allen will be calling her at 1:00 pm. that day. You can read them here.

My summary is below: [More...]

Financially beleaguered Real Housewife of Tampa co-star Jill Kelley thought she'd try her hand at a business deal (using her closeness to Gen. David Petraeus and her honorary South Korea title.) She was rebuffed as an amateur, when she asked for an $80 million commission.

Adam Victor, president of TransGas Development in New York, recounts the adventure to the Tampa Bay Times. He met Kelley at an event at the Tampa Convention Hall at the Republican National Convention.

Victor said Kelley described herself as a close friend to Petraeus, which impressed him. In fact, he said, Kelley told him she might help him with a coal gasification project in South Korea. She said she could gain him access to the highest levels of the South Korean government, Victor said. Kelley told him she was an honorary consul for South Korea, and Victor said she told him she had obtained the position with the help of Petraeus.

Kelley followed up with Victor at a meeting in New York (his company flew her there first class.) Kelley told him that if the deal went through, she expected an $80 million commission. [More....]

The FBI agent/friend of Jill Kelley who brought the anonymous e-mails she received to the FBI is Frederick W. Humphries. Humprhies works on terrorism cases. His friends describe him as obsessive, with "experience in counterterrorism, conservative political views and a reputation for aggressiveness."

Humphries and his wife were "social friends" with Jill Kelley. Humphries contacted Rep. Dave Reichert because he was convinced the FBI was stalling the case for political reasons. Reichert connected him with Eric Cantor, who passed his info on to FBI Director Mueller.

A friend of Humphries says the shirtless photo was sent years earlier and was "a joke." The Kelley and Humphries families often exchanged photos of each other.

First penalties: Paula Broadwell lost her security clearance today and Jill Kelley lost her special clearance to access the MacDill military base. [More...]

There are lots of articles about the background of Tampa socialite and party planner Jill Kelley and her twin sister, lawyer Natalie Khawam, and their access to top military officials, here and in the Middle East, including Gen. David Petraeus and John Allen.

The first question that comes to mind: Why were Gen. Allen and Jill Kelley, who has no particular expertise in foreign affairs, the military or Government, exchanging 20 to 30,000 pages of documents (including several hundred e-mails) over a two year period? What documents would be of mutual interest to a party planner socialite and a top General? It doesn't sound like there was any romantic relationship between them, so what was their mutual interest? Was she feeding him information? About what? Where did she get the documents she sent him? What documents was he sending her?

[T]he bureau turned over a mountain of documents to Pentagon officials, including an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 pages, based largely on communication between Allen and Kelley, prompting Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to order an inspector general inquiry.

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Jill Kelley has retained lawyer Abbe Lowell and crisis manager Judy Smith, who once represented Monica Lewinsky. Like Paula Broadwell, she is married to a physician, cancer surgeon Scott Kelley. Jill Kelley has a twin sister Natalie Khawam, who recently lost an ugly custody battle. Both Petraeus and Gen. Allen wrote support letters in support of her attempt to overturn the ruling. (You can read them here.)

Kelley, who grew up in Philadelphia, is of Lebanese descent. Her family, Maronite Catholics, immigrated from Jounieh, Lebanon, in the mid-1970s, according to a 1988 article about her family's restaurant, Sahara, in The Philadelphia Inquirer. She has a twin sister, Natalie, the article said.

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Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, is now under investigation for alleged "inappropriate communications" with David Petraeus' friend Jill Kelley -- the Tampa woman who asked her FBI agent friend (who is also under investigation) to help find out who was sending her harassing e-mails.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a written statement issued to reporters aboard his aircraft, en route from Honolulu to Perth, Australia, that the FBI referred the matter to the Pentagon on Sunday. Panetta said that he ordered a Pentagon investigation of Allen on Monday.

The FBI is going through 20,000 to 30,000 pages of communications between Kelley and Allen between 2010 and 2012. When did Gen. Allen have time for work? And if Kelley was not a paid Government employee, what were she and Allen exchanging? Books from Amazon? [More...]