JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A spokeswoman for Gov. Eric Greitens says a new House report detailing allegations of sexual misconduct by the governor contains "more false information."
The report released Monday by a special legislative committee includes a transcript of an interview conducted by St. Louis prosecutors of a woman with whom Greitens says he had a consensual affair.
The House committee says the interview supports the woman's separate testimony to the committee that Greitens had coaxed or coerced her into an unwanted sexual encounter in 2015 that turned physically aggressive. The committee report says Greitens has mischaracterized the woman's interview by suggesting it somehow undermined her other testimony.
Maria Jeffrey, a spokeswoman for Greitens' legal defense team, said the allegations made against the governor are false.
Jeffrey's full statement can be read at the bottom of this story.
An attorney for Greitens says the owner of a political publication based in Jefferson City delivered one of the two $50,000 payments to the law firm representing the ex-husband of a woman who had an affair with the governor.
Attorney Al Watkins represents the ex-husband and testified during a deposition Monday as part of the invasion of privacy case against Greitens.
Watkins did not return messages seeking comment. But during a hearing Monday in the midst of the deposition, defense attorney Jim Martin said Missouri Times owner Scott Faughn provided the first $50,000 payment to Watkins' law firm in January, just before Greitens admitted to the affair.
Missouri Times editor Rachael Herndon Dunn says Faughn would issue a statement later Monday.
Watkins has said he doesn't know who actually provided the money.
The chairman of the committee investigating Greitens says the House plans to subpoena Faughn.
Maria Jeffrey, a spokesperson for the governor's legal team, sent the following statement to the media.
Just as we learned today that a member of the Jefferson City media dropped off $50,000 in cash to support this campaign of false accusations against the Governor, a report was released with more false information that has not been subject to cross-examination.
As the Governor has said before, the allegations made against him are false. Any allegation of sexual violence, coercion, or assault are completely and totally untrue. He is innocent, and it has become obvious to almost everyone watching this case that the allegations made against him are now collapsing under the weight of pay offs, lies, and perjury.
The statement that came out today, failed to mention that the Defense is under a court order to not turn over the deposition.
In addition, the relevance of the video to the case was that it proved perjury on the part of the leading investigator, suborned perjury on the part of the circuit attorney, and that the lead witness told stories to cover for the perjury of the lead investigator.
Just today, the Judge in the case said that he will rule shortly about whether the testimony of the lead witness will even be admissible, given the lead investigator’s influence over the witness. That lead investigator is now taking the 5th Amendment, after committing alleged perjury, hiding evidence, and falsifying evidence.
Today we also learned that $50,000 in cash was delivered to one of the attorneys of the couple making accusations against the Governor by Scott Faughn, a member of the media who has extensive ties to the Governor’s political opponents.
We hope that the House Committee will investigate the pay offs of the people who are working to take down the Governor. The Governor’s team will certainly be doing so.
Maria Jeffrey, Spokesperson for Greitens Legal Defense
