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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 13 april 2018

Missouri governor mirrors Trump in quest to survive scandal

also said Greitens should establish that.”
quit. St. Louis Circuit Attorney
Republican state Sen. Rob Kim Gardner said in a court
Schaaf, a vocal Greitens filing later Thursday that she
critic, wrote a letter Thurs- supplied the video once
day to Trump asking the her office determined it
commander in chief to re- could be accessed. She
quest that Greitens, a for- accused Greitens’ attor-
mer military officer, step neys of using “diversionary
down. tactics” to shift the focus
Greitens has vowed to re- from his “illegal and repre-
main in office and denied hensible conduct.”
any violence or criminal The woman’s name nev-
wrongdoing in what he in- er has been officially re-
sists was “an entirely con- leased; it is redacted from
sensual relationship” with the legislative documents
his former St. Louis hairdress- and she is identified only by
er as he was preparing to her initials in court filings.
run for governor in 2015. The woman’s attorney,
The legislative commit- Scott Simpson, declined to
tee’s investigation of Gre- comment on the video, cit-
itens began after he was ing a gag order in the crimi-
charged in February by a nal case.
St. Louis grand jury with fel- Greitens said in a statement
ony invasion of privacy for that the video testimony
allegedly taking and trans- “directly contradicted al-
mitting a nonconsensual legations in the House re-
photo of the woman while port” and that any allega-
she was partially nude. He tions of “coercion, violence
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens speaks at a news conference about allegations related to his is to go to trial May 14. and assault” are “false.”
extramarital affair with his hairdresser, in Jefferson City, Mo., Wednesday, April 11, 2018. In court Thursday, his attor- Greitens repeatedly told
Associated Press neys asked for the case to reporters Wednesday that
By DAVID A. LIEB and SUM- wrongdoing as a “political and threatened her during be dismissed. They asserted the allegations against
MER BALLENTINE witch hunt.” unwanted sexual encoun- that the St. Louis prosecu- him were a “political witch
Associated Press Trump has thus far survived. ters. Kehoe said Greitens tors’ office had engaged hunt” — a phrase similar
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) But reaction from fellow has lost his “moral author- in misconduct and poten- to what Trump has used to
— Facing mounting calls Republicans indicates Gre- ity.” tial perjury by initially say- discredit investigations into
to resign following sexual itens may have a more diffi- “Should the governor ing that a video recorder whether he had any role in
misconduct allegations, cult time — in part, because choose not to resign, I am had malfunctioned dur- Russia’s interference in the
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens allegations about Trump’s persuaded that he has not ing a March interview of 2016 elections.
appears to be taking a behavior were known be- only burned bridges, he has the woman. Greitens’ at- To drive home the point,
cue from President Don- fore his election, whereas blown them up to where it torneys say prosecutors Greitens added: “This is ex-
ald Trump as he fights for Greitens had cultivated a will be impossible for him to shared the video with them actly like what’s happen-
his political survival amid a campaign persona of an effectively lead the state Wednesday night — only ing with the witch hunts in
#MeToo movement that all-American hero. going forward,” Kehoe after the release of the Leg- Washington, D.C.”
has felled dozens of other On Thursday, Missouri Sen- said. islature’s report — and that “I think it is conscious to
prominent politicians and ate Majority Leader Mike Other Republicans calling the woman’s testimony in link himself to Trump, but
public figures. Kehoe became the high- for Greitens’ resignation in- the video backs up Gre- it’s a loser. It’s not going
Referencing events in est-ranking Republican clude Joplin businessman itens’ claim of a consensual to work,” said Ed Martin,
Washington, D.C., Greitens state lawmaker calling for and megadonor David encounter. a former Missouri Repub-
is using similar wording as Greitens to immediately re- Humphreys — who gave “This woman is not a vic- lican Party chairman and
Trump to denounce accu- sign following the release Greitens nearly $1.3 million tim,” Greitens’ attorney Trump supporter. “He ran
sations of unwanted sexual of a legislative report de- — and Attorney General Jim Martin said. “She was as something different than
aggression as “lies” and tailing testimony from a Josh Hawley, a top chal- a willing participant in ev- everybody else, and Trump
“fake charges” and the in- woman who said Greitens lenger to Democratic U.S. erything they did, and the was more in some ways up-
vestigations into his alleged slapped, grabbed, shoved Sen. Claire McCaskill, who video goes a long way to front about who he was.”q