JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. _ The chairman of a Missouri House committee investigating Gov. Eric Greitens said Thursday that he had spoken with the FBI regarding Greitens' campaign activities.
Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, said that when Michael Hafner, a former Greitens campaign staffer, testified to the committee earlier this year that the governor had potentially solicited donations from foreign donors, Barnes "contacted federal law enforcement," he said.
During that meeting, Barnes said, FBI agents told him about large cash payments that anti-Greitens attorney Albert Watkins received as news of Greitens' extramarital affair was breaking in January. Watkins represents the ex-husband of the woman who had an affair with Greitens.
"In the course of that interview, (I) was asked questions about did I know that you had received a cash payment," Barnes said to Watkins as the attorney testified to the committee on Thursday morning. "I want it to be known that I did learn of it from the FBI."
Watkins was testifying Thursday morning, primarily about $120,000 he received from Scott Faughn, the publisher of the Missouri Times. Watkins told the committee that Faughn told him the source of the money was an out-of-state Republican donor.
Faughn testified Wednesday that the money was his. He would not say how he acquired the money.
Barnes' admission Thursday was the latest indication that federal agents _ who have not confirmed that they are probing Greitens _ are, in fact, investigating Greitens.
Watkins also testified that someone initiated a "credible act of intimidation" against his family when news of Greitens' affair broke. He said $10,000 of the $120,000 Faughn gave to him was to protect Watkins' family.
"I told Scott: I gotta get my family out of town," Watkins said.
Asked who threatened his family, Watkins said he could not state with certainty.
Watkins' admission Thursday followed a Monday report by CNN, citing two unnamed state Republican lawmakers, who said that FBI agents asked them about "threats and bribes made on behalf of the governor regarding an impeachment vote."
One Republican lawmaker, who spoke on the condition that their name not be used, told the Post-Dispatch he spoke with two people who identified themselves as FBI agents in the Capitol _ probably in March.
"They were just asking about general things about Eric Greitens," the lawmaker said, "and what I knew _ what I thought I knew _ about people that were getting preferential treatment and if there was any political activity that was taking place within the governor's office."
Faughn testified Wednesday that the $120,000 that appeared in Watkins' Clayton office was all his _ despite skepticism from the Republican-led committee.
"This was my money," Faughn said.
"No one believes it was your own money. I don't know anyone sitting around with $120,000," said committee chairman Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City.
Rep. J. Eggleston, R-Maysville, called Faughn's explanations "fishy."
Committee members pressed for the original source of the money. But Faughn's attorney, Chuck Hatfield, said his client was under no obligation to reveal details of his financial arrangements and compared that to Greitens' refusal to release his income tax returns or the governor's nonprofit not releasing its donors.
"That's private information," Hatfield said.
