Missouri AG Announces Greitens Charity Investigation

JEFFERSON CITY, MO — Missouri Attorney General and 2018 Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley confirmed Thursday his office has opened its own investigation of embattled Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, this time into the governor's former charity, The Mission Continues.

Greitens, a former Navy SEAL, founded The Mission Continues in 2007. The non-profit organization says it helps empower veterans who are adjusting to life back at home by "deploying" them on community-improvement projects. Greitens ran the charity full-time until 2014, shortly before he decided to run for governor.

The Associated Press reported in 2016 that Greitens used connections he made during his time running the charity to compile a donor list for his run for statewide office. Nearly $2 million in contributions to Greitens gubernatorial run came from donors who had also given significant amounts to his charity organization, according to financial records examined by the AP.

The AP also obtained a spreadsheet of donors who gave at least $1,000 to The Mission Continues. That document was created by charity staff and later transferred to a staffer for Greitens' campaign. Using charity donor lists for political purposes is against the law.

At the time, Greitens denied any wrongdoing. "We were not working off of a Mission Continues donor list," he said.

The new investigation compounds the governor's growing legal problems. In February, he was indicted by a grand jury in St. Louis for felony invasion of privacy after allegations he took a nude photo of a woman without her consent in March 2015.

The governor has admitted to having an extramarital affair, calling it a "deeply personal mistake" in a joint statement with his wife. But he denied trying to blackmail his mistress, instead blaming a "reckless liberal prosecutor" for the case against him.

According to court documents, Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's office does appear to have rushed to bring charges against the governor before the statute of limitations on his alleged crime was to expire this month. A judge set the governor's trial date for May 14, but prosecutors initially requested an additional six months to complete their investigation.

Prosecutors also admitted to a judge they do not have in their possession the evidence that will surely be the centerpiece of their case against the governor: the photo itself.

"We plan to get that picture," said Robert Steele, first assistant circuit attorney.

Questions are also flying about why prosecutors turned to private investigators rather than police to conduct their investigation, with one private company being paid at least $10,000, according to the Associated Press.

Prosecutors said requests to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to investigate the governor were directed instead to the FBI. The FBI declined the investigation, saying it was beyond the agency's jurisdiction. But St. Louis police dispute that they were ever asked to investigate the governor.

Nonetheless, The Kansas City Star reported Thursday that some of the governor's staffers have been subpoenaed in the probe, and state lawmakers have taken the first steps on the road to impeachment by forming a bipartisan investigatory committee in the Missouri House.

Rep. Jay Barnes, who will chair that committee, promised a fair, firm and timely investigation at a press conference Monday.

Following that press conference, a group of a dozen Republican House members released a letter calling on the governor to resign, saying that he can no longer effectively lead the state or the party.

Other lawmakers, Democratic and Republican alike, have joined that chorus.

"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 Kansas City Republican Sen. Kevin Corlew.

Likewise, Democratic state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, who represents St. Louis, said Greitens has to go. "Missourians thought they voted for a person of character and integrity, and instead they got a liar and alleged criminal."

Greitens said he has no plans to resign, and has instead hired a lobbyist to make his case to lawmakers in Jefferson City, according to records from the Missouri Ethics Commission.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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