Missouri Governor Eric Greitens announced his resignation on Tuesday after the St. Louis prosecutor said he reached a “fair and just” deal over the “pending charges” of sexual misconduct and campaign-finance violation against him, without providing further details.
The governor was accused by an unnamed woman of sexual assault. Namely, the woman, with whom he had an affair, said he blackmailed her with nude photos of her and was violent. Although Greitens admitted to the affair, he denied the other accusations were true.
Nonetheless, the Missouri governor faced a charge of felony invasion of privacy over the alleged nude image as well as a separate charge of felony computer tampering, allegedly misusing a donor list belonging to his veterans charity, Newsweek writes. A House special committee report in April alleged the governor lied in campaign filings and violated campaign-finance laws when he used the charity’s donor list to raise money for his campaign.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said in a statement on Tuesday she had “been in contact with the Governor’s defense team over the past several days,” adding they “have reached a fair and just resolution of the pending charges.”
Greitens had been facing calls for his resignation for months, but refused to do so until this Tuesday, when he announced he will resign as of Friday at 5 p.m., saying in a speech that the past “few months have been incredibly difficult for me, for my family, for my team, for my friends, and for many, many people.”
Greitens also reiterated his previous claim that he had not broken any laws nor “committed any offense worthy of this treatment.”
Missouri’s Republican-controlled House leadership applauded the governor’s decision, saying he “has put the best interest of Missourians first today by choosing to resign.”
Be the first to comment