Former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens was a rising star within the GOP before disturbing charges of blackmailing a woman he had an extramarital affair with as well as campaign finance improprieties forced him to resign in June 2018. National Republican figures fear his scandal-plagued career could cost them an otherwise safe Senate seat in November’s midterm elections
Eric Greitens, the former Missouri governor who’s now running for Senate, emotionally and physically abused his ex-wife and two children and threatened his former spouse with legal action to keep her from revealing his 2015 affair with a hairstylist, new court documents revealed on Monday.
In a new filing stemming from their ongoing custody battle, Sheena Greitens cast her ex-husband as someone who threatened to use his political connections and influence in order to destroy her reputation to win custody of the children.
‘Prior to our divorce, during an argument in late April 2018, Eric knocked me down and confiscated my cell phone, wallet and keys so that I was unable to call for help or extricate myself and our children from our home,’ Greitens recalled in the documents.
‘I became afraid for my safety and that of our children at our home.’
She also accused him of ‘physical violence’ against their young kids, ‘such as cuffing our then-3-year-old son across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by his hair.’
At another point he confronted her when she tried to take herself and their children to her parents’ house, Sheena Greitens claimed.
He ‘threatened to come to the airport and have me arrested for kidnapping and child abuse, saying that because of his authority as a former governor who had supported law enforcement, the police would support him and not believe me.’
The explosive new details could pose a problem for Greitens’ Senate campaign. In recent weeks he emerged as the frontrunner in a competitive crop of Republicans running to replace retiring GOP Senator Roy Blunt. The primary election will be on August 2.
Some in the Republican establishment are anxious that, with the allegations released on Monday and previous scandals, Greitens would face vulnerabilities against a Democrat. And with the Senate evenly divided, the GOP can’t afford to lose what would otherwise be a safe seat.
The latest explosive allegations brought forward by his ex-wife, Sheena Greitens, are part of an ongoing custody battle over their two young sons
A former Navy SEAL and Rhodes scholar, Greitens had been courted by both parties before choosing to cast his lot with the GOP.
However his rising star was derailed in 2018, after a St. Louis court indicted the then-governor on an invasion-of-privacy charge for taking a semi-nude photo of the hairstylist he was having an affair with in 2015. The photo had been taken without the woman’s consent.
The same woman later accused Greitens of tying her up in his basement and tearing her clothes off without her consent.
In her Monday affidavit, Sheena Greitens claimed her husband admitted to taking the compromising photo but warned her that she could face legal trouble of her own if she ever disclosed that fact. She later learned that was not the case.
Shortly after his extramarital affair broke, a Missouri House committee began investigating campaign finance issues, and Greitens faced a second felony charge in St. Louis. He was accused of providing his political fundraiser with the donor list of his veterans’ charity.
The back-to-back scandals led to his resignation from the governorship in June 2018.
During those last days leading Missouri, Sheena Greitens claimed her husband displayed behavior so alarming that ‘multiple people’ other than herself attempted to ‘limit Eric’s access to firearms.’
Sheena Greitens accused her ex-husband of emotional and physical abuse and of ‘cuffing’ their then-three-year-old son ‘across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by his hair’ (Pictured: The family of four speak to media in 2016)
She said he at one point purchased a gun but refused to tell her where it was.
Greitens also threatened to kill himself ‘unless I provided specific public political support,’ she wrote.
The former governor also called his ex-wife a ‘hateful, disgusting, nasty, vicious … lying b****,’ she claimed.
Upon discovering that she had emailed their family therapist seeking help, Greitens allegedly threatened to accuse her ‘of child abuse if I did not delete the emails and convince the therapist to delete them.’
She also claimed he threatened to use his public profile to get her out of a job as recently as 2020.
Upon her acceptance of a job at the University of Texas, Sheena Greitens alleged her ex-husband vowed to ‘use his political influence to get my job offer revoked.’
She had filed Monday’s affidavit in a bid to get their ongoing custody battle moved from Missouri to Texas.
‘Now that Eric is a candidate for federal office, public interest in my life, my relationship with Eric and the breakdown thereof, and the existence of issues of custody between Eric and me are being re-kindled and brought back into central public discussion,’ Sheena Greitens wrote.
Greitens appears in a mugshot in St. Louis, Missouri on February 22, 2018
Texas was safer, she claimed because ‘the reach of his power and influence is significantly less.’
The disgraced former governor kept a low profile after his resignation, but re-emerged last year after the Missouri Ethics Commission found ‘probable cause’ that Greitens’ campaign broke campaign finance law, but also ‘found no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Eric Greitens, individually.’
Greitens said the ruling ‘fully exonerated’ him.
He released a statement on Monday calling his ex-wife’s allegations ‘completely fabricated.’
‘Being a father is the joy of my life and my single most important responsibility. I will continue to love and care for my beautiful sons with all of my being, and that includes fighting for the truth and against completely fabricated, baseless allegations,’ Greitens said this afternoon.
He added that he was still looking for full custody of their children and that he hoped their mother ‘gets the help that she needs.’
Greitens then went on to imply her Monday affidavit was a coordinated opposition effort on the part of national Democrats.
‘I understand that while I was with my boys last week, she was in Washington, DC. Sadly, political operatives and the liberal media peddle in lies,’ the Republican said.
‘However, I have faith, and I know that ultimately truth will always prevail.’
Greitens’ Senate campaign has already been opposed by prominent Republicans, including Missouri Senator Josh Hawley.
Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who is running against Greitens, told the Springfield News-Leader he showed a ‘pattern of criminal behavior that makes Eric unfit to hold any public office.’
‘He should drop out of the U.S. Senate race immediately and seek immediate professional help,’ the federal lawmaker said.
But a recent poll by the Trafalgar Group shows that, at least until the new allegations broke, Greitens was enjoying a narrow lead among fellow Republican candidates.
Greitens managed to net 30.5 percent of support in the survey taken from February 22 to February 24.
After him, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt came in second with a 23 percent share, followed by Hartzler with 16.6 percent.
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