Jefferson City
Originally posted January 10, 2018, and frequently updated since then
Because of the gravity of the news, which will probably mean a flood of new details and developments, and the chances that this will drastically affect Missouri state politics, I have made this a “sticky” post.
Add this to the fact that he lives in Creve Coeur while his wife lives in the CWE, (and remember she was jacked close to where she lives back during her husband’s transition period), and I’m just waiting for all the gossip about the unconventionality of their marriage to break the blood-brain barrier.
What also helped fuel this gossip was that there was a lot of serious talk that, between the times of Greitens winning the election and being inaugurated, that Sheena Greitens would not be living in the Governor’s Mansion.
Guess what crossed over from the below ground to the above ground tonight, coinciding with the State of the State speech earlier this evening.
This isn’t quite that, but there’s always more time for more to come out.
We also will eventually find out how their buying in Innsbrook relates to the unconventionality of their marriage.
1/11
* The bit about the S&M nudie/blackmail isn’t going away so easily, if at all, and will be why Mike Parson should be measuring for drapes right about now.
* There’s now calls for Hawley to investigate. Especially in this #MeToo climate, he’ll fire all four barrels at Greitens, especially if he thinks he needs to in order to beat Claire in November.
* Then, there’s this. Though if one wants to think this diminishes the credibility, then why did they want whatever news outlet would run with it to time it to the State of the State? What real political damage does that cause?
* John Hancock claims that “party officials didn’t know about the story.” They didn’t know about this particular story, but believe me, the less than conventional nature of the Greitens marriage has been talked about in the grapevines that Hancock is plugged into since he became a serious candidate.
1/12
* According to the ex-husband of the woman Greitens allegedly blackmailed, the FBI has interviewed both him and his ex-wife. The FBI has not yet confirmed or refuted.
1/13
* The woman now says she didn’t want this to come out at all and that the ex-husband betrayed her trust by shopping this story to the local media.
1/16
* It is my sense, reading between the lines of the news and things that people are saying, that Republican members of the General Assembly generally lean on the side of believing the blackmail accusation.
* Now, some of the above are going on record openly with resignation calls.
* It’s getting deeper. First off, she has to be related to Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, but I can’t remember precisely how offhand. Second, while it’s not proof that the blackmail accusation is true, I think it’s indicative of something.
* And deeper still. It all depends on what the FBI, and maybe the U.S. Attorney, and Kim Gardner, all think. I don’t think that the timing of this and now four General Assembly Republicans calling for his resignation is a coincidence.
1/22
* FBI’s St. Louis office confirms an open active investigation.
2/6
* The woman’s husband has been asked to testify to the St. Louis City grand jury, according to his lawyer. Even though Gardner has not yet confirmed that there even is a grand jury.
2/20
* Greitens is beefing up his stable of lawyers, and, like this article speculates, I think he’s anticipating the impending need for criminal defense.
2/22
* Felony indictment, officially. From the St. Louis City circuit. Which made me write this post.
* P-D calls for resignation. Of course they might be partisan and hypocritical, but you also see here why his political career is shot to hell. Not so long ago, he has Presidential ambitions.
2/24
* The MSM articles in the aftermath of the indictment note that Greitens has always had an alienated and standoffish relationship with General Assembly Republicans, compared to the soon-to-be Governor Mike Parson, who is way more of a quintessential swamp creature.
This may lead you to ask me if I think that this is something of a dog patch deep state hit. The reasons I highly doubt that the state Republican machinery is behind this are: (1) I have not heard any gossip that they helped feed the initial allegations to Channel 4, (2) Greitens ideologically lined up with the General Assembly Republicans very well.
The only real rub is that Greitens did what he could during his first year and change as Governor unilaterally to drain the swamp, which had the net effect of making life a lot more boring for the Jefferson City political class. I can attest to the fact that Jeff City really isn’t a hot or hopping town, and, without lobbyists around to pay for some parties and good times, at least not to the extent that they were before Eric Greitens rode into town, life for the political class in that town while they’re there has suddenly become borderline suicidally boring.
That would point to motive on their part, motive in engineering such a hit. But I’m not grokking a paper trail or smoking guns.
3/15
The first major consequential news about this since the indictment, which probably does quite a bit of damage to Gardner’s case.
3/19
Greitens’s lawyers are opting for a bench trial, which means for some reason, they think they’re more likely to get a not guilty verdict from a judge as opposed to a 22nd circuit jury.
3/23
I highly doubt that he’s going to be able to get a restraining order just off the fact that Greitens is a retired Navy SEAL officer. What this is really all about? The second to last sentence gives it away.
3/26
It will be a jury trial and start in May.
4/9
If the recording was a figment of her imagination, and did not exist, then it was physically impossible for Greitens to blackmail her with it.
And now, it looks like Gardner’s office hid this obviously exculpatory testimony from Greitens’s defense lawyers.
This thing has fallen apart. I would imagine in the coming months, Gardner and her office will be in heap big trouble, with the blatant gross ethical violations. It’s not like she’s got such a good friend in the state AG’s office.
4/10
Gardner gets a judge to issue a gag order, probably as a last ditch effort.
4/11
The General Assembly’s report dropped today. This doesn’t move the needle at all, because it doesn’t prove the existence of a recording. Remember, the pregnant matter here is blackmail-with-recording. All the salacious stuff, we could have already guessed, based on Greitens’s own confession of the affair.
What this most likely does is mean that he can forget about higher office, and he will get a credible primary challenge for re-elect in 2020. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t seek re-elect.
4/12
The morning after: It is moving the needle. Mainly the allegations of borderline sexual assault. Greitens’s antics in his preemptive presser have also caused him to lose what few friends he had in the General Assembly. Also of curiosity is this five figure payoff to one of the witnesses.
While this report doesn’t make Gardner’s case any easier, it does make the chances that Eric Greitens will no longer be governor by the end of the year, either by hook (resignation) or crook (impeachment) all the more likely.
Talk of a self-called special session of the General Assembly, (which would be the first in state history, because, until now, governors have called all special sessions), which would start immediately after the end of the regular session next month, and for the purpose of beginning impeachment proceedings, has already started. While this would be a PITA to a lot of legislators, because it will eat into their vacation time, it’s also an even-numbered year, which means it’s a campaign and election year for the General Assembly members that aren’t term limited out.
4/12
Also in the news today is that the video of Gardner’s deposition of the mistress, which was supposedly lost, has magically reappeared.
The irony of Greitensgate in recent days is that the criminal case against him is falling apart fast while the political case against him has taken very serious legs.
4/17
Past few days have not been profound, just a matter of Hawley and Greitens getting into a pie fight, and an otherwise private and as it turned out prescient letter that Peter Kindercare wrote about Greitens that was uncovered.
4/20
A new felony charge added today officially, over Greitens’s use of The Mission Continues donor lists in official campaign business.
Only his own hubris has prevented him from resigning. I also think that this totally ruins his moral authority on the political issue of ethics reform. Then again, once he’s gone and Mike Parson is governor, Parson being a system guy, ethics reform will be dead anyway.
