Missouri Governor Eric Greitens ‘offered to resign if prosecutors dropped felony charge against him’
Eric Greitens was charged with computer tampering; he is accused of illegally obtaining a donor list to aid his 2016 campaign from a veterans charity he founded
Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, who announced his resignation on Tuesday, had offered to leave office in exchange for dismissal of a felony computer tampering charge against him in a wider scandal, a prosecutor’s spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner spoke to reporters about the deal but declined to comment on a continuing investigation against Greitens involving possible felony invasion of privacy in connection with an admitted extramarital affair in 2015 with a hairdresser before he was elected.
Greitens has said he is innocent and called the relationship consensual.
In the computer tampering case stemming from questionable fundraising activities, Greitens offered to leave office if Gardner would dismiss the charge, prosecutor’s spokeswoman Susan Ryan said.
Saying most of the deal was sealed and could not be discussed, Ryan said the most significant part of it was Greitens saying he would furnish his resignation in exchange for the charge being dropped.