© 2024 Blaze Media LLC. All rights reserved.
Breaking: Missouri Governor arrested over blackmail accusations from mistress
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was indicted and arrested Thursday on charges stemming from an affair he admitted to having in 2015. (Craig Barritt/Getty Images for The Robin Hood Foundation)

Breaking: Missouri Governor arrested over blackmail accusations from mistress

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was indicted and arrested Thursday on a charge of felony invasion of privacy. Greitens is a Republican.

What did he do?

A grand jury indicted the governor based on allegations that he threatened to embarrass a woman with whom he was having an affair by releasing a nude photo of her if she revealed their relationship publicly. The accuser also said that he tied her up, blindfolded her, and took the picture without her permission.

The affair occurred in March 2015, before he became governor. The woman said the sexual encounter was consensual, but not the picture that was taken while she was blindfolded.

Greitens has admitted to the affair, but has denied the privacy invasion allegations.

Republicans in the St. Louis Legislature were considering taking action if the governor were to be indicted.

"We don’t want to go on a fishing expedition or a witch hunt," said Rep. Robert Cornejo. "We want to have some kind of direction of where we want to go."

"If an indictment or anything were to happen, that would give us some guidelines," he explained.

Other Republicans wondered whether he should resign, even before the indictment came down.

"This is a very serious thing and it just makes me heartsick," said Rep. Kathie Conway. "Republicans came in with high hopes (for the governor), and this is just such a distraction."

Want to leave a tip?

We answer to you. Help keep our content free of advertisers and big tech censorship by leaving a tip today.
Want to join the conversation?
Already a subscriber?