As media descended on the home of Jill Kelley—the Florida woman who touched off an investigation that has ensnared two top government officials with a complaint regarding emails she was receiving— she reached out to the local Tampa police for help.
In a series of calls starting over the weekend, Kelley asked the Tampa police to remove people she did not know from her property. She suggested at one point that they might want to get “diplomatic protection” involved due to her status.
I am an honorary consul-general, so I have inviolability. So I should, they should not be able to cross my property. I don’t know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well? But that’s against the law to cross my property, because, um, it’s inviolable.
Kelley is one of about 10 honorary consuls for South Korea, a South Korean official confirmed to NBC News. However, this would not grant her any special protections.
Emails between Kelley and Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, are also under investigation.
Kelley, who identifies herself on the calls, describes the trespassers as a “bunch of white people” at one point and repeatedly tells the operator she does not know them.
The U.S. State Department also issued a statement confirming that Kelley has “no formal affiliation with the State Department.”
“I can assure you that she does not work for the State Department,” spokesman Mark Toner said.
The recent resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus was set off when Kelley complained to a friend in the FBI that she had received harassing emails. The FBI investigation led to the discovery of an affair between Petraeus and his biographer Paula Broadwell. The emails to Kelley were traced back to Broadwell.
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