Gov. Eric Greitens has repeatedly referred to his 2015 affair with his former hairdresser as a "private matter." He is wrong. It is a major criminal matter of enormous importance to all Missourians.
According to credible accounts made to a Missouri House committee by the woman involved in the affair, validated by friends to whom she gave contemporaneous accounts, Greitens didn't engage in consensual sex, as he claims. She describes him as having ignored her when she repeatedly said "no." She said he forcibly abused her sexually, slapped her, called her a "whore" and punished her for having intimate relations with her own estranged husband.
The report issued Wednesday by the state House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight states that the committee regards her to be "an overall credible witness." Greitens chose not to testify or provide documents the committee requested, as was his right.
He asserted Wednesday that the allegations are part of "an absurd political witch hunt." What he pointedly did not do is address a single allegation in the 24-page report. He tried to deflect and divert, but his culpability is in the report for all to see.
The victim's account was consistent, whether stated under oath to the committee or recounted to multiple friends as the affair was happening. Two friends and her husband recalled for the committee almost identical accounts of what she told them at the time.
Her account portrays the governor of Missouri as a sexual pervert with violent tendencies. It adds vital context to the criminal proceedings now pending in St. Louis against him. The formal charge against Greitens pales in comparison to what she described to the committee. He faces trial May 14 on one count of felony invasion of privacy for transmitting a semi-nude photo of her without her consent. She describes his actions as bordering on rape.
The fact that the committee chairman, Republican Rep. Jay Barnes of Jefferson City, chose not to delay the report's release _ as requested by Greitens' attorneys _ underscores the committee's belief that these allegations deserve to be aired fully and immediately in public. Barnes made the right call.
The committee questioned the victim, two close friends and her ex-husband behind closed doors after the panel was formed on Feb. 27. Legislators asked her why she allowed the affair to continue even after she said Greitens had abused her.
Her marriage had fallen apart. Her answers suggested feelings of low self-esteem. She kept going back to satisfy a desire to be loved by Greitens in the way she loved him, she said. Ultimately, she concluded that Greitens didn't love her but regarded her only as a "thing" to be used for his sexual pleasure. She said she decided to break it off but keep the affair secret. Her husband found out about it. It was made public in January.
The committee report doesn't offer conclusions; its work won't be completed until after the legislative session ends May 18, which would be about the time Greitens' trial is wrapping up. But the report does strategically juxtapose witness accounts of key events with Greitens' public statements on the matter.
Greitens denies allegations of having blackmailed the victim by photographing her blindfolded and semi-nude and threatening to distribute the photo publicly if she talked about their first encounter in his home. But the report cites repeated statements by Greitens stopping short of denying that he photographed her. Asked repeatedly to state yes or no whether he photographed her, he does not answer the question.
There's a reason for that. There's a reason why his lawyers are trying so hard to attack the victim's credibility. It's because she's very believable and consistent. Greitens is not.
Much has been made during his 15 months in office about the governor's penchant for secrecy. We now know that he has the darkest of secrets to hide. Missourians had no idea when they elected him that they may have been putting a deviant in the state's highest office.
The abuses described in the committee report rival those committed by the worst sexual abusers in the past year's #MeToo revelations. Greitens still deserves his day in court, but he cannot continue as governor under this cloud. The witness is credible and he is not. He must resign.
