Missouri’s governor quits amid scandals
Eric Greitens, a 44-year-old Rhodes Scholar and ex-Navy SEAL, resigns amid investigations stemming from an extramarital affair and campaign finance questions.
Gov. Eric Greitens of Missouri announced on Tuesday that he will resign, bowing to months of pressure as he faced a felony charge, a scandal tied to an extramarital relationship and the threat of impeachment.
Greitens, a newcomer to politics and former member of the Navy SEALs, remains under indictment in St. Louis on a charge of tampering with computer data. Prosecutors contend that Greitens, a Republican, illegally obtained a donor list from a veterans’ charity he founded and used it for his 2016 campaign.
A separate felony invasion-ofprivacy charge against Greitens was dropped just before trial in May. In that case, a woman who had several sexual encounters with Greitens said he took a partially nude photo of her without her permission, then threatened to blackmail her with it. Greitens admitted an extramarital affair with the woman but denied blackmailing her.
Greitens, who could face up to four years in prison if convicted of the computer tampering charge, resisted resigning after his indictment, even as some lawmakers discussed the possibility of impeachment.
The governor’s scandal came at an awkward time for Missouri Republicans, who hope to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, in this year’s election. Some Republicans have said Greitens’ affair could hurt the party in that race.
Greitens’ extramarital relationship became public just hours after the governor’s state of the state address on Jan. 10, when KMOV, a St. Louis television station, aired a recording of the woman speaking with her husband at the time about Greitens.
The woman, who apparently did not know she was being recorded, told her now former husband that Greitens threatened to release a compromising photograph of her if she told anyone about their relationship. The husband’s lawyer released the recording to the media.
Lt. Gov. Michael Parson is next in line for the governorship.
After the affair became public, Greitens, a married father of two who portrayed himself as a family man during his 2016 campaign, asked Missourians for forgiveness and said he had worked through the issue with his wife. But he has insisted that he committed no crime.