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The ex-wife of former Missouri Gov.Eric Greitens, who is now a leading Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, accused her ex-husband of “unstable and coercive behavior” that included “physical violence” toward their two children, ages 7 and 5, in an affidavit filed Monday in an ongoing child custody dispute.
In describing an incident in April 2018, before the couple divorced, Ms. Greitens alleges her husband “knocked me down and confiscated my cell phone, wallet, and keys so that I was unable to call for help or extricate myself and our children from our home at Innsbrook, Missouri.”
Eric Greitens.Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Tribune News Service via Getty
Ms. Greitens also said her ex threatened suicide in the spring and early summer of 2018 if his then-wife didn’t provide “specific public political support” for the then-governor, who faced a sex scandal beginning in January 2018 related to an admitted affair with a hairstylist.
She said her and others' concerns over her husband’s threat to kill himself led to attempts to “intervene to limit Eric’s access to firearms on at least three separate occasions,” according to the affidavit.
“As I became afraid of the escalation of physical violence in early June 2018, I begged Eric to tell me where his firearm was — one that he had purchased in January 2018 and subsequently concealed from me,” she said. “He refused, saying that I was not being sufficiently ‘cooperative.’ I started sleeping in my children’s room simply to try to keep them safe.”
Ms. Greitens wants their custody case moved to the Austin area, the AP reports, in part to avoid media attention as he campaigns in Missouri to succeed retiring Sen. Roy Blunt in the upcoming election.
Greitens, 47,released a statement on Twitter Monday, calling his ex-wife’s claims “completely fabricated, baseless allegations.”
“I have faith, and I know that ultimately truth will always prevail,” he said in the tweet which included his statement.
“Being a father is the joy of my life and my single most important responsibility,” the statement said. “I will continue to love and care for my beautiful sons with all of my being, and that includes fighting for the truth.”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens and wife Sheena hold their children, Jacob (left) and Joshua, while addressing the media after casting their vote on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016 at the St. Louis Public Library Schlafly branch in St. Louis, Mo. (Cristina M. Fletes/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS via Getty Images)
He added that he is seeking full custody of the couple’s children. “For their sake, I will continue to pray for their mother and hope that she gets the help that she needs,” he added.
Greitens also said his ex-wife was recently in Washington, D.C., and suggested she met with “political operatives.”
Though he admitted to infidelity as the scandal erupted in 2018, the former governor denied allegations that resulted in a criminal case and a felony invasion-of-privacy indictment against him.
In 2018, Greitens was indicted ona felony invasionof privacy charge related to allegations that he had tried to blackmail the woman with whom he had the affair, though that charge was laterdropped.
Greitens also denied wrongdoing in another 2018 criminal charge for tampering with a computer following claims that he improperly took a donor list from his nonprofit veterans group to help his political campaign. That year, he wasindictedon a felony charge of computer tampering relating to those allegations, though that charge has also since been dropped.
Faced with possible impeachment proceedings, then-Gov. Greitens resigned in June 2018 but decried “legal harassment” and said he had not “committed any offense worthy of this treatment.”
This year’s Republican primary in Missouri is set for August 2.
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Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who announced her own senate bid in February, called on Greitens to drop out of the race.
“I just wanted to comment on the news today that Eric Greitens' ex-wife Sheena, revealed that when they were married, he physically abused her and their children, and he used the power of the governors office to silence and intimidate her,” she said in a video statementposted to Facebook. “Well I have one thing that I want to say – real men never abuse women and children. Period. End of story. It’s time for Eric get out of the Senate race, and get professional help.”
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who’ll become the state’s senior member when Blunt leaves office, has endorsed Hartzler and also called on Greitens to end his campaign.
“If you hit a woman or a child, you belong in handcuffs, not the United States Senate,” hesaid on Twitter. “It’s time for Eric Greitens to leave this race.”
source: people.com
