Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens: "I will not be resigning"
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens repeated Tuesday he will not resign despite several prominent members of his own party asking him to step down and a resolution filed to authorize articles of impeachment against him. A report by a Missouri House investigatory committee last week accused Greitens of initiating a physically aggressive unwanted sexual encounter with his hairdresser and threatened to distribute a partially nude photo of her if she spoke about it.
"I will not be resigning the Governor's office. In three weeks, this matter will go to a court of law—where it belongs and where the facts will prove my innocence," Greitens said Tuesday. "Until then, I will do what the people of Missouri sent me here to do: To serve them and work hard on their behalf."
Greitens, 44, faces a felony invasion-of-privacy indictment in St. Louis. Greitens has admitted the 2015 affair but insisted the sex was consensual.
Separately, Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley suggested Tuesday the St. Louis prosecutor could bring another felony charge against Greitens for allegedly taking the donor list from a veterans' charity he founded and using it to raise money for his gubernatorial campaign. Hawley said his office has turned over the evidence to the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office and the House Committee investigating Greitens, CBS St. Louis affiliate KMOV reports.
In response, Greitens said "fortunately for Josh, he's better at press conferences than the law," KMOV reports. "Anyone who has set foot in a Missouri courtroom knows these allegations are ridiculous," Greitens said. Josh has turned the 'evidence' he claims to have over to St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner- a liberal prosecutor funded by George Soros who allegedly suborned perjury, falsified documents, and withheld evidence. We will dispense with these false allegations."
Legislative leaders said the potential of a second felony charge was too much for the state to bear.
"When leaders lose the ability to effectively lead our state, the right thing to do is step aside. In our view, the time has come for the governor to resign," House Speaker Todd Richardson said in a joint statement with House Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr and House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo.
A graphic report by a House investigatory committee made public last week detailed multiple instances in which the woman said Greitens spanked, slapped, grabbed, shoved and called her derogatory names during a series of sexual encounters as he was preparing to run for office in 2015. The testimony contradicts Greitens' previous assertions that "there was no violence" and "no threat of violence" in what he has described as a consensual extramarital affair.
The report, signed by all five Republicans and two Democrats on the committee, describes the woman's testimony as credible and notes that Greitens has so far declined to testify or provide documents to the panel. It also outlines instances where the Republican governor's public comments appear to run counter to some of her allegations.
Missouri House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty filed a resolution Tuesday to authorize the legislative committee investigating Greitens to introduce articles of impeachment against him "upon finding of good cause," KMOV reports.
