Report details sex claims against defiant Missouri GOP governor
Calls for him to quit grow stronger, even among his own party
The Missouri governor’s grip on power turned shaky Wednesday after a report released by the state’s Republican-controlled House said he made unwanted sexual advances on his former mistress before he ran for office.
Calls for Gov. Eric Greitens to resign — even among fellow Republicans — intensified after the release of the detailed, salacious report. But in a blunt news conference before the report was released, Greitens insisted he was the victim of a political witch hunt. He said he would not step down.
“We fully expect that the report being released tonight will include lies and falsehoods,” he said from the state Capitol in Jefferson City. “I want to say again what I’ve said from the beginning. This is a political witch hunt.”
The damning report details several instances in which the woman, who was Greitens’ barber, said he spanked, slapped or grabbed her, and called her derogatory names during sexual encounters before he ran for office in 2015.
The woman went to his house in March 2015 at his request, the report said. He bound her to exercise equipment with tape and began kissing her around her stomach, the woman testified, according to the 24-page report. After she began crying and told him to stop, the governor helped her undo the tape, and then hugged her and tried to console her, the report said.
But then he took out his penis, the report said, and the woman told the investigative committee that although she was not scared, she felt that the only way she could leave his home was if she performed oral sex, even though she did not want to.
The investigative committee released its report even as the governor’s defense team tried feverishly to delay it. Defense lawyers argued that the report could taint a potential jury pool in the coming criminal trial, which is scheduled to start next month.
The fact that the Republicancontrolled Legislature went ahead with its report despite the governor’s objections is an indication of how strained his relationship is with members of his own party. Some consider it a damaging distraction that could hurt the party’s chances in the midterm elections this fall, which include a crucial U.S. Senate race against the longtime Democratic incumbent, Claire McCaskill.