On Tuesday afternoon, following months of scandals, indictments in two separate criminal cases, and looming impeachment proceedings, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens finally announced he would resign effective Friday. With Greitens’ departure, Lt. Gov. Mike Parson, a fellow Republican, will take his place.
Greitens, a former Navy SEAL who upset the GOP establishment in winning his 2016 primary for governor and had designs on the presidency, saw his career begin to unravel early this year, when a local TV station reported that he’d had an extra-marital affair with a woman who cut his hair, then blackmailed her into silence by taking a photo of her nude, bound, and blindfolded.
Those explosive allegations prompted St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner to indict Greitens on charges of first-degree felony invasion of privacy in February, and they also spurred the state legislature to commence its own investigation. In April, lawmakers released a damning report that found the woman to be a “credible witness” and disclosed new accusations, including her claim that Greitens coerced her into performing oral sex even as she wept “uncontrollably.”
Later that same month, Greitens was indicted a second time, this time on unrelated charges of computer tampering. Those charges stemmed from an investigation into whether his gubernatorial campaign improperly obtained a list of donors from The Mission Continues, a charity for veterans that Greitens founded and ran until stepping down the year before he began his run for governor.
All the while, Greitens insisted that the accusations against him were “lies” (though he acknowledged the affair) and declared himself the victim of a “political witch hunt,” blaming liberals and even conservative bogeyman George Soros. And just last week, Greitens launched a six-figure ad campaign attacking his enemies and proclaiming his innocence.
Yet the biggest threat to his career always lurked in the legislature, despite the fact that both chambers are dominated by Republicans. Indeed, as one unnamed legislator put it, “Eric Greitens spent a year calling every Republican in the state corrupt. I'll be shocked if any of them stand up for him as an alleged blackmailing psychopath.”
Greitens had campaigned for office as a Trumpian outsider—his most notorious ads featured him literally blowing stuff up with a high-powered firearm—and his nonstop war with his own party ensured that lawmakers would forge ahead with their impeachment inquiry, even after Gardner was forced to dismiss the invasion of privacy charges for procedural reasons. (A special prosecutor was quickly reassigned to the case.)
So even if Greitens had skated on all legal charges, he would likely still have faced impeachment. Now, though, the reverse may well be true. Following Greitens’ announcement, Gardner said she had reached a “resolution of the pending charges” with the governor, suggesting that he stepped down in exchange for a deal regarding the computer tampering charges. (Gardner promised further details on Wednesday.) But Baker, who has jurisdiction over the invasion of privacy case, said that her office had made “no deals” with Greitens, so he may still be in legal jeopardy.
As for the soon-to-be-vacant lieutenant governorship, it’s not clear what will happen. Missouri law appears to allow Parson to appoint his own replacement, but it’s somewhat less certain as to whether there’d be a special election this November for the final two years of his term, or whether the next election wouldn’t take place until 2020, when the post would normally be up.
But there’s one thing we do know for sure: Greitens’ political future is gone for good.
This post has been updated to reflect news of the apparent deal between Greitens and prosecutors, and to clarify Missouri law on filling a vacant lieutenant governorship.