--- title: Paula Broadwell ‘Shocked’ Petraeus May Be Secretary of State description: Broadwell says she was demoted and suffered professional damage after their affair was revealed canonical: https://time.com/4596078/paula-broadwell-david-petraeus-trump-secretary-of-state/ author: Kastalia Medrano article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-08T22:06:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:04.679Z og:title: Paula Broadwell Is ‘Shocked’ Petraeus May Get Big Trump Role og:description: She says she was demoted and suffered professional damage after their affair was revealed og:url: https://time.com/4596078/paula-broadwell-david-petraeus-trump-secretary-of-state/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt633694d8922ad688/698783d3f887dcf226e8a9db/david-patraeus-politics-time-100.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1900 og:image:height: 1069 og:image:alt: US commander in Iraq General David Petra og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Paula Broadwell Is ‘Shocked’ Petraeus May Get Big Trump Role twitter:description: She says she was demoted and suffered professional damage after their affair was revealed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt633694d8922ad688/698783d3f887dcf226e8a9db/david-patraeus-politics-time-100.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Paula Broadwell Is ‘Shocked’ Petraeus May Get Big Trump Role > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=5d15f75d-45c6-4c76-b8cb-bd81bdb669c2&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) by [Kastalia Medrano](https://time.com/author/kastalia-medrano/) ## Kastalia Medrano Dec 8, 2016 10:06 PM UTC  US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus talks at the press conference in London, 18 September 2007, on the current state of affairs for US troops in Iraq. Petraeus was to hold talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday, during a stopover on his way back to Baghdad from Washington. AFP PHOTO/SHAUN CURRY (Photo credit should read SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images) US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus talks at the press conference in London, 18 September 2007, on the current state of affairs for US troops in Iraq. Petraeus was to hold talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday, during a stopover on his way back to Baghdad from Washington. AFP PHOTO/SHAUN CURRY (Photo credit should read SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images) Shaun Curry—AFP/Getty Images by [Kastalia Medrano](https://time.com/author/kastalia-medrano/) ## Kastalia Medrano Dec 8, 2016 10:06 PM UTC Paula Broadwell, a writer and former military intelligence officer, became a public figure in 2012 when her affair with then-CIA director [David Petraeus](http://nation.time.com/2012/11/14/the-rise-and-fall-of-general-peaches/) became public. In a new interview with CBS This Morning, Broadwell said it was [a “shocker”](http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/08/politics/broadwell-interview-david-petraeus/index.html?sr=twCNN120816broadwell-interview-david-petraeus0218PMVODtopLink&linkId=32100052)that the retired general could soon be tapped for Secretary of State under president-elect Donald Trump. Broadwell expressed a desire for Petraeus to be able to go on with his life, but also wondered why she hadn’t been permitted to do the same. In the wake of the scandal, Broadwell – who served 21 years in the military and 13 in the Army Reserves – says she was demoted, formally reprimanded and stripped of her security clearance. Though the military did not formally discipline Petraeus, he resigned from his job and was fined $100,000 and sentenced to [probation in a civilian criminal court for sharing classified information](http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/30/politics/david-petraeus-donald-trump-secretary-of-state-probation-officer/) with Broadwell, who was working as his biographer at the time. He [recently joined the ranks of a number of generals](http://time.com/4585503/why-trump-is-interviewing-generals-for-his-cabinet/) whom [Trump](http://motto.time.com/4565567/donald-trump-women-election/) is considering for cabinet positions. Broadwell declined to say whether she believed Petraeus is qualified to be Secretary of State, but alluded to the vast discrepancies in consequences each had faced after the affair. “I think he’s unequally qualified for many positions, but that’s not my position to say. I think the president-elect would have to decide and members of the Senate,” Broadwell said. “As I woke up to the news, you know, it was a bit of a shocker that he was being considered for a Cabinet position, and I was — I was both shocked that I’m still in this tenuous position, and yet happy because I think he should be able to go on with his life. He’s earned it, and so should his family. But then it begged the question of, ‘Why shouldn’t I be able to go on?’” Broadwell told CBS she’s currently waiting for her resignation paperwork to be approved. After years of silence, she said she’d tired of taking everyone’s advice to lie low, and that she granted the interview because she felt it was time to begin fighting back and reclaiming her narrative. Her arc here is actually somewhat reminiscent of that of Monica Lewinsky, who [made very similar remarks when in 2014 she re-emerged as a _Vanity Fair_ columnist](http://www.vanityfair.com/style/society/2014/06/monica-lewinsky-humiliation-culture) following more than a decade of silence after her brief affair with then-President [Bill Clinton](http://motto.time.com/4426453/dnc-bill-clinton-speech-masterpiece/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4596078/paula-broadwell-david-petraeus-trump-secretary-of-state/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4596078/paula-broadwell-david-petraeus-trump-secretary-of-state/"},"headline":"Paula Broadwell Is ‘Shocked’ Petraeus May Get Big Trump Role","datePublished":"2016-12-08T22:06:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:04.679Z","description":"She says she was demoted and suffered professional damage after their affair was revealed","url":"https://time.com/4596078/paula-broadwell-david-petraeus-trump-secretary-of-state/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt633694d8922ad688/698783d3f887dcf226e8a9db/david-patraeus-politics-time-100.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kastalia Medrano","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kastalia-medrano/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt633694d8922ad688/698783d3f887dcf226e8a9db/david-patraeus-politics-time-100.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US commander in Iraq General David Petra","caption":"US commander in Iraq General David Petra","creditText":"Shaun Curry—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4596078/paula-broadwell-david-petraeus-trump-secretary-of-state/","name":"Paula Broadwell Is ‘Shocked’ Petraeus May Get Big Trump Role"}}]}] ```