The Missouri Republican Party linked Gov. Eric Greitens' indictment to New York billionaire George Soros in the party's first public comment on the Republican governor's arrest and arraignment.
Greitens faces a grand jury indictment for felony invasion of privacy after an investigation by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner's office into allegations that Greitens took a nude photograph of a woman without her consent in 2015 in an effort to keep her from talking about an extramarital affair.
"Kim Gardner has received more than $200,000 from George Soros groups," Sam Cooper, the executive director of the Missouri Republican Party, said in a statement released Friday morning.
Cooper pointed to a 2016 article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about how Gardner's campaign received large donations from super PACs with ties to Soros, who supports progressive causes, including a $73,000 donation from the Soros-backed Safety & Justice PAC in July.
"Missourians should see this for what it is, a political hit job," Cooper said. "This law has never been prosecuted in this way and it is safe to say if Eric Greitens wasn't governor, it wouldn't have been this time either. We have a progressive anti-law enforcement Democrat wanting to single-handedly oust a law-and-order governor."
The statement from the party stands in stark contrast to the comments from Republican legislative leaders who have promised to conduct a formal investigation in response to the indictment, which could be the first step toward impeachment.
"We will carefully examine the facts contained in the indictment and answer the question as to whether or not the governor can lead our state while a felony case moves forward," Missouri House GOP leaders said in a joint statement Thursday. "The people of Missouri deserve no less. We will begin the process of tasking a group of legislators to investigate these serious charges."
Cooper's comments echo a Facebook post Thursday night by Greitens in which he called Gardner "a reckless liberal prosecutor."
Gardner's office shrugged off the governor's criticism Thursday night.
"Despite the Governor's personal attacks, the Circuit Attorney believes the courtroom is the appropriate place to argue the facts, not the media. Kim Gardner maintains her unwavering confidence in our system of justice to bring this matter to a fair and just resolution," her spokeswoman said in a statement.
Gardner's office did not immediately respond to the state Republican Party's attack. Gardner, a former Democratic lawmaker, has held her current office for a little more than a year.
The party's decision to link the investigation to Soros, a popular target of the right, was foreshadowed by a Twitter exchange Wednesday between veteran GOP strategist Jeff Roe and Jane Dueker, who served as chief of staff for former Democratic Gov. Bob Holden.
"You never know when the Soros money will come your way," Roe said to Dueker after she suggested Greitens would be brought down by the grand jury investigation.
The law firm representing Greitens this week hired a lobbyist who works for Roe's firm.
Despite the full-throated support by the state party, several Republican lawmakers in Jefferson City have called for the governor to step down in the wake of the indictment.
"In the wake of the grand jury criminal indictment, and with legal proceedings to come, I cannot see how he could effectively perform the duties of his office, let alone to lead with the kind of moral authority needed to make a positive impact," said Rep. Kevin Corlew, a Kansas City Republican. "For the good of our state and the ideals we stand for, I believe that Governor Greitens should resign."
The Republican Governors Association, a group that works to elect GOP governors nationally, announced Friday that Greitens will give up his position on the association's steering committee and skip its winter conference to "fight back against what his team has called a baseless charge."
The association said it looked forward to the quick resolution of the issue.
