Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was a rising star in the Republican Party before troubling allegations of blackmailing a woman with whom he had an extramarital affair and campaign finance violations forced him to resign in June 2018. National Republican figures fear his scandal-ridden career could cost an otherwise secure Senate seat in November’s midterm elections.
Eric Greitens, a former Missouri governor now running for Senate, emotionally and physically abused his ex-wife and two children and threatened his ex-wife with legal action to keep her from revealing his affair with a hairdresser in 2015, new court documents show. published on Monday. .
In a new document related to their ongoing custody battle, Sheena Greitens called her ex-husband the man who threatened to use his political connections and influence to destroy her reputation in order to gain custody of the children.
“Before our divorce, during an argument in late April 2018, Eric knocked me down and confiscated my mobile phone, wallet and keys, so I couldn’t call for help or get out of the house with the children,” recalls Greitens. the documents.
“I began to fear for my safety and the safety of our children in our home.”
She also accused him of “physically abusing” their young children, “for example, hitting our then three-year-old son in the face at the dinner table in front of me and pulling his hair.”
On another occasion, he confronted her when she tried to take herself and her children to her parents’ home, Sheena Greitens said.
He “threatened to come to the airport and arrest me for kidnapping and child abuse, saying that because of his authority as a former governor who supported law enforcement, the police would support him and not believe me.”
Explosive new details could create problems for Greitens’s Senate campaign. In recent weeks, he has led the way for Republicans to fill the seat of outgoing GOP Senator Roy Blunt. Primary elections will be held on 2 August.
Some in the Republican establishment are concerned that the allegations released Monday and previous scandals will leave Greitens vulnerable to a Democrat. And with the Senate evenly divided, the Republican Party cannot afford to lose what would otherwise be a safe seat.
The latest explosive allegations, made by his ex-wife Sheena Greitens, are part of an ongoing custody battle over their two young sons.
A former Navy SEAL and Rhodes scientist, Greitens was courted by both sides before deciding to cast his lot with the Republican Party.
However, his rising star came crashing down in 2018 after a St. Louis court indicted the then-governor on breach of confidentiality charges for taking a semi-nude photo of a barber he was having an affair with in 2015. was taken without the consent of the woman.
The same woman later accused Greitens of tying her up in his basement and ripping off her clothes without her consent.
In her sworn statement on Monday, Sheena Greitens said her husband admitted to taking the incriminating photo but warned her that she could get in legal trouble of her own if she ever revealed the fact. She later found out that this was not the case.
Shortly after his extramarital affair broke out, a Missouri House committee began investigating campaign finance issues, and Greitens was charged with a second felony charge in St. Louis. He was accused of providing his political fundraiser with a list of donors to his veterans’ charity.
Consecutive scandals led to his resignation as governor in June 2018.
In those final days as Missouri leader, Sheena Greitens claimed that her husband was so anxious that “several people” other than herself tried to “restrict Eric’s access to firearms.”
Sheena Greitens accused her ex-husband of emotional and physical abuse, and of “handcuffing” their then three-year-old son “in the face at the dinner table in front of me and pulling his hair” (pictured: a family of four say with the media in 2016)
She said that at some point he bought a gun but refused to tell her where it was.
Greitens also threatened to kill himself “unless I provide concrete public political support,” she wrote.
The former governor also called his ex-wife “hateful, disgusting, nasty, vicious… a lying bitch,” she said.
Upon discovering that she had emailed their family therapist asking for help, Greitens allegedly threatened to accuse her of “child abuse unless I delete the emails and convince the therapist to delete them.”
She also claimed that back in 2020, he threatened to use his public profile to fire her from her job.
After she accepted a job at the University of Texas, Sheena Greitens claimed that her ex-husband vowed to “use his political influence to withdraw my job offer.”
On Monday, she filed an affidavit to move their ongoing custody battle from Missouri to Texas.
“Now that Eric is a candidate for federal office, the public interest in my life, my relationship with Eric and its breakup, and the existence of custody issues between Eric and me are rekindled and returned to the central public discussion,” Sheena Greitens wrote.
She argued that Texas was safer because “the reach of his power and influence is considerably less”.
The disgraced former governor kept a low profile following his resignation but resurfaced last year after the Missouri Ethics Commission found a “probable cause” that the Greitens campaign violated campaign finance law, but also “found no evidence of any or wrongdoing by Eric Greitens, individually.
Greitens said the decision “fully exonerated” him.
On Monday, he released a statement calling his ex-wife’s allegations “completely fabricated.”
“Being a father is the joy of my life and my most important responsibility. I will continue to love and care for my beautiful sons with all my being, including fighting for the truth and against completely fabricated, baseless accusations,” Greitens said this afternoon.
He added that he is still seeking full custody of their children and hopes their mother “gets the help she needs.”
Greitens then hinted that her Monday affidavit was a coordinated opposition effort by the National Democrats.
“I understand that while I was with my boys last week, she was in Washington DC. Unfortunately, politicians and liberal media are selling lies,” the Republican said.
“However, I believe and know that in the end the truth will always prevail.”
Greitens’s Senate campaign was already opposed by prominent Republicans, including Missouri Senator Josh Hawley.
Rep. Vicki Hartzler, who is running against Greitens, told the Springfield News-Leader that he has displayed “a pattern of criminal behavior that keeps Eric out of any public office.”
“He should immediately withdraw from the race for the US Senate and seek professional help immediately,” the federal lawmaker said.
But a recent poll by the Trafalgar Group shows that, at least until new allegations surfaced, Greitens had a slight lead over other Republican candidates.
Greitens managed to get 30.5% support in a poll conducted from February 22 to 24.
After him, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt came in second with a 23% share, followed by Hartzler with 16.6%.