Republican Senate Candidat. He was physically abusive and displayed such “unstable, coercive behaviour” that steps were taken in order to restrict his access to firearms. Court records reveal new allegations made by his ex-wife.
Part of a ongoing Missouri child custody dispute, Sheena Greitens filed Monday a sworn statement. After a June 2018 sex scandal that led to Eric Greitens’ resignation as governor, Sheena Greitens, a public affairs professor at Texas, sought divorce from Greitens. In order to keep her children safe from the renewed attention Eric Greitens is trying to make a political comeback, she’s asking the court to move the custody matter to Austin.
Eric Greitens described the allegations as “completely fabricated and baseless”
He stated that he is seeking full custody of his sons and that he will continue to pray for their mother.
On Monday, his attorney asked for a judge to keep the affidavit secret from the public. He claimed that open access to it could cause irreparable damage to his reputation as well as his candidacy.
A message to Sheena Greitens’ attorney was not returned.
These allegations could hinder his chances of winning the Aug. 2 primary in Missouri as the GOP nominee. They also may jeopardize the party’s chances to retain a key Senate seat for the general election.
Sheena Greitens claims that her ex-husband threatened her reputation by using his political connections and influence to get custody of her children.
Sheena Greitens filed that Eric had “knocked me down” during an argument in April 2018 and taken my phone, wallet, and keys. This made it impossible for me to call for help and extricate myself from the home of our children and ourselves. “I was afraid for my safety and the safety of our children at home,” Sheena Greitens wrote in the filing. Later, she added that Eric’s “behavior included violence against our children such as handcuffing our 3-year-old son across his face at the dinner table and pulling his hair.”
She said that one of her sons returned from a visit to his father in 2019 “with a swelling face, bleeding gums, and a loose tooth.”
Sheena Greitens wrote that Eric claimed Dad had hit him, but Eric stated they were roughhousing and that it was an accident. Sheena Greitens also noted that the tooth had to be extracted eventually.
Missouri was once a swing state but has been more Republican in recent years. The race to succeed retiring Senator Roy Blunt has been attracting national attention. Some in the GOP establishment worry that Greitens will face weaknesses against a Democrat, given the scandals and allegations made on Monday. The Senate is evenly divided so the GOP cannot afford to lose what would otherwise have been a safe seat.
Greitens was urged to resign by other candidates.
“Real men don’t abuse women or children.” In a recorded statement, Vicky Hartzler, GOP U.S. Rep. posted it on Twitter. Eric needs to leave the Senate race and seek professional help.
Eric Schmitt is Missouri’s Republican Attorney-General. He also runs.
Senator Josh Hawley (a Republican) will be Missouri’s senior senator after Blunt retires. He also stated that it was time for Eric Greitens “to leave this race.”
He tweeted, “If you hit either a woman nor a child, you belong to handcuffs, and not the United States Senate.”
After his 2016 election, Greitens became a rising GOP star. He was charismatic ex-Navy SEAL officer and Rhodes Scholar and founded a non-profit that benefits veterans. He didn’t hide his ambition, either, reserving the website EricGreitensForPresident.com.
After he was charged with an invasion of privacy charge in St. Louis in February 2018, Greitens seemed to have lost all hope. He was accused of taking a compromising photograph of his hairdresser without her consent in 2015 during an extramarital affair. A Missouri House committee started investigating campaign finance issues and Greitens was soon facing a second felony in St. Louis.
After his 2018 resignation, Eric Greitens remained relatively low-profile. After finding probable cause” that Greitens campaign had violated campaign finance law, the Missouri Ethics Commission “found no evidence of Eric Greitens individually.”
Greitens claimed that the ruling “fully exonerated him.”
However, Sheena Greitens’ testimony paints a grim picture of his final days as governor. She claimed that Eric Greitens bought a gun at one point but would not tell her where it was. She wrote that he threatened to kill herself if he didn’t provide specific public support.
She wrote that Eric’s behavior was so alarming that “multiple people” intervened to restrict Eric’s access.
She wrote, “I started sleeping in the room of my children to keep them safe,”
Eric Greitens referenced the fact that he had children while trying to convince Sheena Greitens not to delete emails she sent to the family therapy seeking help.
She wrote that Eric threatened to accuse my of child abuse if they didn’t delete the emails and get the therapist to do so.
She claimed that Eric Greitens also called her hateful, disgusting and vicious during the phone call. He accused her of lying to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper and prosecutors.
She said that he became angry after a few weeks and challenged her to stop her from flying with the children to her parents.
He “threatened” to take me to the airport to have me arrested for child abuse and kidnapping. He claimed that his authority as a former governor, which had supported law enforcement, would make it easier for the police to support him.
After telling Eric Greitens she had accepted a job at Texas University in 2020, she claimed that he threatened to use his political influence to revoke her job offer.
Sheena Greitens stated in the affidavit that her ex-husband’s return to politics was taxing. She wrote that his ability to influence law enforcement and appoint Judges, as well the greater power he would have as a Senator, are “extremely intimidating.”
Sheena Greitens wrote, “Now Eric is a candidate to federal office, public interest my life, my marriage with Eric, the breakdown thereof and the existence of matters of custody between Eric, me and are being rekindled and brought back in central public discussion.”
She wrote that “the weight of these facts, and the intimidation they create” justified moving the case to Texas. Texas has “significantly less power and influence.”
