Friend: Broadwell rues affair's damage

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 19 (UPI) -- A friend of Paula Broadwell said the author regrets any damage her affair with ex-CIA Director David Petraeus created for her family.

The person said Broadwell was ravaged by the fallout, which forced Petraeus to resign from the CIA, and that the biographer "deeply regrets the damage that's been done to her family," ABC News reported Monday.

Broadwell, her husband and their two sons returned to their home in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, where they were greeted by more than two dozen friends and neighbors, the friend said on condition of anonymity.

The 40-year-old author, who wrote the Petraeus' biography, "All In," was trying to "focus on her family," the friend said.

Prosecutors must decide whether to charge Broadwell with mishandling classified information for allegedly taking secret files from secure government buildings, a violation of federal law but authorities may allow the military to discipline her. As an intelligence officer in the U.S. Military Reserve, Broadwell had clearance to review the documents.

Petraeus, meanwhile, hired a top Washington lawyer during the weekend, ABC News reported. The lawyer, Robert Barnett, of Williams & Connolly, is known for negotiating book deals for politicians from President Barack Obama to 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.