Eric Greitens, the disgraced and displaced former governor of Missouri, signed some 77 new bills into law during his final day in office, including one that makes an increasingly rampant form of blackmail—one that he himself stands accused of—a felony.
The “revenge porn” law signed by Greitens creates a felony that will apply to cases when someone threatens the nonconsensual dissemination of a private sexual image by coercing another person to refrain from an action.
The governor has been accused of taking a nonconsensual photo of a partially nude woman with whom he had an affair in 2015 and warning her he would distribute it if she ever spoke of their encounter.
Greitens cannot be charged under the new law because it was not in effect at the time.
Greitens resigned on May 29 amid multiple indictments and scandals galore.
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.
Greitens maintains his innocence. In a Facebook farewell to his constituents, the GOP pariah touted his accomplishments and completely avoided the allegations, claiming that “now, we can look back with pride and forward with confidence.”
Whatever you say, Eric.
