JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. _ The Missouri House committee investigating Gov. Eric Greitens has sent a subpoena to the governor, committee chairman Rep. Jay Barnes announced Friday afternoon.
Barnes said the subpoena asks Greitens to testify on June 4, a Monday. One of Greitens' attorneys, Michelle Nasser, told the committee Friday afternoon that she did not know whether Greitens would testify.
"We need Mr. Greitens to appear and testify under oath before this committee," Barnes said. "There have been reports that he's been talking to members of the House about various events. And, if he is capable of doing that, he is capable of coming to this committee and testifying under oath."
Rep. Don Phillips, R-Kimberling City, said as a former Highway Patrol officer, people who had nothing to hide were usually open and forthwith in their discussions.
"Those who do have something to hide are very reluctant to speak with you," said Phillips.
Barnes added that the committee had also subpoenaed Greitens' ex-lover to appear for a second time on June 5, and that it had subpoenaed Greitens campaign manager Austin Chambers.
The action punctuated a week of tense proceedings during which the 10-member panel heard testimony from two Greitens adversaries and read reams of salacious questioning of Greitens' ex-lover by Greitens' defense team. The committee also repeatedly sparred with Greitens' legal team, accusing the attorneys of rebuffing their requests for documents.
During one testy exchange on Thursday morning, an exasperated Barnes, a Jefferson City Republican, shouted at Greitens attorney Ed Dowd, wondering when Greitens would testify before the committee.
Dowd responded that Greitens' team had yet to determine when the governor would testify, seeing as he still faces felony data tampering charges in St. Louis.
Greitens has refused to answer any questions in recent months _ from the media or the House committee _ including questions over whether he took a compromising photograph of his former hair stylist or used a charity donor list to raise campaign funds.
"In order to get the truth, we need to hear from both sides," said Barnes. "We've extended this offer every single day. We're in our 88th day and we're still waiting for Mr. Greitens to testify."
On Friday, a police detective who examined Greitens' phone told the panel it contained no evidence of the picture _ a finding touted by the governor's defense lawyers as key evidence that no such picture was taken.
But Madison County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Brian Koberna said the photograph could have been taken and then erased.
"There could very well be an image that was taken that day," Koberna said. "Just because I don't find a photo, don't find an item, doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
In addition, the committee determined that Greitens had five phone numbers at that time, suggesting that he could have taken a picture with a different device.
Greitens, a Republican, has previously denied the allegation of his former lover that he threatened to publicize a photo he allegedly took without her consent while she was bound, blindfolded and partly undressed during a sexual encounter in the basement of Greitens' St. Louis home.
The woman told investigators she saw a flash through the blindfold and heard what sounded like a photo being taken. Greitens, the woman testified, told her: "You're never going to mention my name, otherwise there will be pictures of (you) everywhere."
The woman, whose name has not been released, said that she became upset and that later Greitens told her he had deleted the picture.
Members of the House committee questioned Koberna for two hours Friday, asking him technical questions about the possibility that a photo was taken, but then somehow removed.
He agreed that a record of a deleted photo might be wiped from a phone when it is upgraded. Koberna also acknowledged Greitens may have used a special app that allowed him to delete the image and leave no record of it occurring.
"I've not been able to determine whether that phone took the picture," Koberna said.
Koberna said he did find three stored thumbnails of photos taken on March 21, 2015 _ the day the woman visited Greitens and went to his basement. But none of the photos was the one she alleges was taken, he said.
"They are absolutely benign," Koberna said.
After sparring with Dowd on Thursday, Barnes erupted again Friday when fellow committee member Rep. Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, tried to introduce evidence he had received from Dowd Bennett.
Barnes said there are at least nine instances in which the law firm offered members selected information that later turned out to be cherry-picked and misleading.
"This is the Show-Me State. You want us to look at evidence, give us all the evidence," Barnes told Nasser.
"I would appreciate it if you would not yell at me," Nasser said. "We're not consenting to anything today."
Barnes later apologized to Nasser for his conduct.
It was initially unclear what reaction Greitens' legal team would have to comply with the subpoena. Dowd told the Springfield News-Leader on Thursday that the House could subpoena Greitens, but it "can't make him testify."
One of Greitens' attorneys, former House Speaker Catherine Catherine Hanaway, argued in Cole County Circuit Court this week that a House subpoena seeking to probe campaign fundraising issues was too broad, and that the House could not embark on a "fishing expedition."
The House has said that it is trying to determine whether the Greitens' campaign actively tried to funnel donations through his nonprofit group A New Missouri in order to conceal the identity of donors, which could be considered a class A misdemeanor under Missouri law.
Barnes said Thursday he had spoken with the FBI following testimony from former Greitens campaign staffer Michael Hafner, who said Greitens may have accepted campaign donations from foreign nationals, which is a violation of federal law.
