Embattled Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) “has called off a statewide tour to promote a tax cut plan as he continues to face fallout from bombshell allegations that he threatened a former mistress with blackmail,” CNN reports.
“Greitens appears poised to remain out of the public eye this week, however, as the controversy continues to swirl.”
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the governor’s aides “would not reveal his whereabouts.”
“Five Republican lawmakers told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that they received calls from the governor since the news of the affair broke Wednesday.”
“The phone calls underscore the lengths to which [Missouri Gov. Eric] Greitens, a Republican, is going to preserve his political career. In the past, Greitens has derided members of the Legislature, at one point comparing them to third-graders and calling them into Jefferson City for two special sessions last summer, which he called ‘summer school.’”
“Now, he is seeking their support as well as trying to shore up support among his donors.”
“The woman who had an affair with Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) in 2015 told her then-husband that Greitens slapped her against her will, after she told Greitens she had had sex with her husband,” TPM reports.
A lawyer for Greitens denied the claim.
According to the Washington Examiner, Greitens told campaign contributors during a conference call that he was committed to continuing in office.
“A bipartisan group of state senators is calling for Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley to investigate allegations that Gov. Eric Greitens (R) threatened to blackmail a woman with whom he had an affair in 2015,” the Kansas City Star reports.
“At least one says that if the allegations are true, Greitens should either resign or be impeached.”
“Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) and his wife, Sheena Greitens, issued an extraordinary statement late Wednesday acknowledging that he had an extramarital affair in the past and that the couple ‘has dealt with this together honestly and privately,'” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
“The statement came as a St. Louis television station aired a segment alleging that, during that affair, Greitens took a compromising photograph of the woman and threatened to publicize it if she exposed him.”
“The woman claims in the audio that they went into Greitens’ basement, where he bound her to a piece of exercise equipment with some kind of tape, put a blindfold on her and began partly undressing her and touching her. That part of the encounter was consensual, she indicates in the audio, but the alleged taking of the photograph wasn’t. She said in the audio that she wasn’t aware he was doing it until she saw a flash of light through the blindfold, followed by his alleged verbal threat.”
[alert type=”general” dismiss=”no”]Prior to this report, Greitens, a 43-year-old former Navy SEAL and Rhodes Scholar, had been seen by many Republicans as an aspiring presidential candidate.[/alert]
Missouri gubernatorial nominee Eric Greitens (R) says he’s an “outsider” who will “take aim at politics as usual” so he thought it would be instructive to fire a machine gun in his new ad.
☑️ SmartCharge New York pays you for charging your electric vehicle at off-peak times. Use this link and you'll get $25 to join.
☑️ Scott's Cheap Flights is the best way to take more vacations. Save up to 90% on airline tickets!
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.