{"id":1247,"date":"2022-03-22T20:30:05","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T20:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linksus.net\/greitens-allegations-spark-gop-fears-of-losing-missouri-senate-seat-politico\/"},"modified":"2022-03-22T20:30:05","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T20:30:05","slug":"greitens-allegations-spark-gop-fears-of-losing-missouri-senate-seat-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/22\/greitens-allegations-spark-gop-fears-of-losing-missouri-senate-seat-politico\/","title":{"rendered":"Greitens allegations spark GOP fears of losing Missouri Senate seat – POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elections<\/a>
The disgraced former governor is not expected to exit the race anytime soon.
Up until now, Eric Greitens has remained in the lead despite top establishment Republicans working against him. | Jeff Roberson\/AP Photo, file
By Natalie Allison<\/a><\/span> and Burgess Everett<\/a><\/span>
 more damning accusations<\/a> to come out against Greitens. The other shoe dropped Monday, after the disgraced former Missouri governor\u2019s ex-wife alleged in court documents that he abused her and their children.
It\u2019s a development that could shake up the crowded GOP Senate primary, where Greitens has remained in the lead despite top establishment Republicans working against him \u2014 and where former President Donald Trump has so far refrained from endorsing. The allegations that Greitens abused his family, which he denies, also draw similarities to Sean Parnell<\/a>, the Trump-endorsed Senate candidate who dropped out of the Pennsylvania GOP primary after losing custody of his children this fall.
Alarm in Washington is palpable as Republicans fret Greitens will blow the race to succeed retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). Several Republican senators said on Monday that Greitens should exit the race, and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the new accusations are \u201cpretty disturbing,\u201d calling on Trump to take a \u201cbig pause\u201d before endorsing in the race \u2014 an eyebrow raising departure from Scott\u2019s normal neutrality.
His remarks suggested more concern about Greitens than he had during Parnell\u2019s child custody fight in November, when Scott insisted on remaining neutral as Parnell\u2019s wife raised similar allegations under oath.
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to understand what the facts are,\u201d Scott said Monday, stopping short of calling on Greitens to drop out. \u201cI think the voters will make a good decision.\u201d
A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri\u2019s junior senator who last month endorsed Rep. Vicky Hartzler in the race to succeed Blunt, said it was \u201ctime for Eric Greitens to leave this race.\u201d It is a message that\u2019s resonating across the Senate GOP.
\u201cI wish he would\u201d drop out, said. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who has also endorsed Hartzler.
\u201cI had qualms about him running with that first incident,\u201d Ernst said, referring to an earlier alleged scandal<\/a>. \u201cSo this is not getting better for him.\u201d
In a statement on Monday, Greitens said he would seek full custody of his children, though his ex-wife\u2019s affidavit explained the boys\u2019 school and social life is currently based in Austin, Texas, where she is employed.
\u201cI will continue to love and care for my beautiful sons with all of my being, and that includes fighting for the truth and against completely fabricated, baseless allegations,\u201d Greitens said, accusing \u201cpolitical operatives and the liberal media\u201d of lying about the accusations.
He later appeared on Steve Bannon\u2019s \u201cWar Room\u201d<\/a> show alleging that his ex-wife had conspired with \u201cRINO\u201d Republicans to smear him, claiming that a news story would come out as early as Tuesday to \u201cconnect the dots directly to Mitch McConnell.\u201d
McConnell (R-Ky.) declined to comment. Greitens became the first Senate candidate last year to publicly take on the Senate minority leader, vowing to work to oust him from leadership if elected.
In an affidavit related to the couple\u2019s child custody arrangement, Sheena Greitens, who currently resides with the children in Austin, wrote that her ex-husband made her fear for her and her two young sons\u2019 safety, the Associated Press first reported<\/a>. The document, filed as part of Sheena Greitens\u2019 request to move the custody case to a court in Texas, included allegations that Greitens struck her and their children, including leaving one son with a \u201cswollen face, bleeding gums, and loose tooth.\u201d
The couple divorced after Greitens resigned as Missouri governor mid-term in 2018 amid allegations that he sexually assaulted and blackmailed his hairstylist. Sheena Greitens on Monday did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As attorney general, Hawley investigated the then-governor in 2018 over Greitens\u2019 use of a charity donor list to solicit campaign funds, turning the findings over to a St. Louis prosecutor. Greitens was subsequently charged with computer tampering, though the charge was dropped as part of a deal with prosecutors to resign from office.
On Monday, Hawley acknowledged he \u201chas a little history\u201d with Greitens and his controversies, adding he feels like he is \u201csomewhat familiar with the former governor.\u201d
\u201cSo unfortunately it looks like a pattern to me,\u201d Hawley said. \u201cShe seems pretty credible to me. You talk about a child with a tooth loose that\u2019s bleeding? Come on. That\u2019s beyond the pale.\u201d
Hawley previously endorsed Parnell and, like most Senate Republicans, is backing Herschel Walker in Georgia\u2019s Senate race, where Walker is also facing allegations of past domestic abuse.
While the new abuse allegations provide ammunition for opposing campaigns \u2014 and potentially new anti-Greitens outside spending groups \u2014 to attack the former governor with television ads, Greitens is not expected to exit the race anytime soon.
\u201cI don\u2019t think he gets out. I don\u2019t think \u2014 and never have thought \u2014 that this guy is playing with a full deck of cards,\u201d said Gregg Keller, a Missouri-based Republican strategist who is working on a super PAC supporting Attorney General Eric Schmitt in the race. \u201cI think he\u2019s a psychopath and\/or a sociopath, and I\u2019m not joking when I say that.\u201d
All major Republican candidates in the Missouri Senate race on Monday called on Greitens to drop out. Hartzler said \u201cit\u2019s time for Eric to get out of the Senate race and to get professional help,\u201d while Schmitt called the allegations against Greitens \u201cdisgusting and sickening,\u201d saying \u201cI know a predator when I see one.\u201d
\u201cThe behavior described in this affidavit is cause for Eric Greitens to be in prison, not on the ballot for U.S. Senate,\u201d Schmitt said in a statement provided to POLITICO. \u201cHe should end his campaign immediately.\u201d
Spokespeople for the state attorney general\u2019s office and the Boone County Prosecuting Attorney\u2019s office, where the affidavit was filed, did not immediately respond to requests for comment about any potential investigations into the allegations.
Rep. Billy Long, another candidate in the race who earlier in the day said it wasn\u2019t his place to tell Greitens what to do, later changed his mind after reading the affidavit, saying there is \u201cno way he can stay in this race.\u201d
Even Democrat Lucas Kunce \u2014 whose likely only chance at victory in the general election would be on a ballot against Greitens \u2014 said Greitens should bow out.
And back in Washington, D.C., multiple top Republicans voiced concerns about Greitens remaining in the race. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Greitens \u201cdoesn\u2019t seem like the kind of person who ought to be running for the U.S. Senate.\u201d
\u201cThere are good candidates running, so hopefully primary voters will nominate someone who can win,\u201d Cornyn said.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune said that a Greitens nomination could amount to \u201cthe most difficult path\u201d for Republicans to win what should be a safe Republican seat.
\u201cI mean, the old allegations were quite substantial on their own,\u201d Thune said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t sound good, let\u2019s put it that way.\u201d
Link Copied
© 2022 POLITICO LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elections The disgraced former governor is not expected to exit the race anytime soon. Up until now, Eric Greitens has remained in the lead despite top establishment Republicans working against him. | Jeff Roberson\/AP Photo, file By Natalie Allison and Burgess Everett 03\/21\/2022 07:32 PM EDT Updated: 03\/21\/2022 07:54 PM EDT Link CopiedNew allegations against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":869,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}