Missouri Governor Faces New Charge: Misusing Charity List for 2016 Campaign

Gov. Eric Greitens of Missouri was accused Friday of illegally obtaining a donor list from a charity he founded and using it to raise money for his 2016 campaign, a new blow to Greitens in a deepening political and sex scandal that has threatened his grip on the governor’s office.

Kimberly Gardner, the St. Louis circuit attorney, charged Greitens with one felony count of tampering with computer data in connection with the donor list.

Greitens, a Republican who was first elected governor in the 2016 race, already was facing a different felony charge, invasion of privacy. In January, he admitted that he had a sexual relationship with his former hairdresser while he was married. The woman has told a legislative committee that Greitens took a nude or seminude picture of her without her consent, then threatened to make the image public if she told anyone about their affair.

The new felony charge dates back to actions prosecutors say took place in April 2015, when Greitens, a former Navy SEAL, was running for governor and serving on the board of directors for The Mission Continues, a veterans charity that he founded. According to the charging document, Greitens directed an employee of the charity, identified only as “K.T.,” to take a list of donors from the charity.

“The defendant and K.T. knew that the donor list disclosed on April 22, 2015, was taken without the permission of The Mission Continues,” the document said. Personal use of the donor list was prohibited by the charity, the document said.

Late Friday, Greitens bluntly rejected the new count against him, suggesting that the prosecutor was scrambling to shore up her case.

“Her case is falling apart — so today, she’s brought a new one,” Greitens said, in a written statement in which he pledged that he will clear his name.

His attorney, Ed Dowd, said in a separate statement: “This charge makes no sense at all.”

Dowd said that Greitens’ charity group had helped thousands of veterans and that Greitens had created it in “an extraordinary act of public service.”

“The court will find Eric innocent of yet another absurd charge, and the people of Missouri will learn the true motives behind this action soon enough,” Dowd said. “This allegation is absurd, and Eric will be found innocent of this accusation in court.”

Earlier this week, Josh Hawley, the attorney general of Missouri and a Republican, said that he believed there was evidence that Greitens had committed a felony in obtaining the list. Hawley said that his office did not have jurisdiction to charge, so he turned over the evidence to Gardner’s office for consideration.

“These are serious charges — and an important reminder that no one is above the law in Missouri,” Hawley said Friday after the new charge was announced.

Earlier this month, a House committee released an investigative report detailing damaging claims against Greitens, including sworn testimony from his former hairdresser that he had slapped her and once coerced her into performing oral sex.

Greitens faces trial on the invasion of privacy count in St. Louis on May 14, and has said that he looks forward to clearing his name. He has rejected calls from leaders in the Missouri Republican Party to resign from the governor’s office.