Senator Doug Libla (R-Poplar Bluff)
State Senator Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, is urging fellow Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley to investigate the allegations against the governor. Libla is circulating a letter among his colleagues after a report on Wednesday by KMOV-TV in St. Louis that Republican Governor Eric Greitens had an affair with his hairdresser in 2015, allegedly tied her up, blindfolded her and threatened to blackmail her if she revealed the affair to anyone.
“These are very disturbing allegations and I want to repeat these are allegations. I’m not taking one side or the other. I just feel like we need to have an investigation done on it and move forward,” says Libla. “These alleged actions have cast another dark shadow over the Missouri State Capitol. Therefore, we believe this investigation must be thorough and completed in an expedited manner so that this will not overpower this legislative session.”
Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, is going a step further and calling for Greitens to resign.
Senator Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis)
“Some of you say those are only allegations, but I don’t know any woman who would just go to her husband and lie about having an affair with another man and how it happened. I think it’s appalling that this chamber is so quiet on that issue,” says Nasheed. “We’re dealing with a situation where about a woman claimed that she had been tied up in the basement. To me, that’s imprisonment. That’s false imprisonment. And then for us to not say anything, for this chamber to be so quiet on that issue and for individuals not to be walking back there and signing that letter, says a lot about us here in this chamber.
She says every woman in the General Assembly should “rise up and do the right thing.”
“This is not just happening in this state. It’s happening throughout the country. Powerful men are taking advantage of the most vulnerable women throughout this country. It should not be tolerated. We should be outraged,” says Nasheed. “For individuals being silent on this issue, it makes me want to cry. They had a relationship, but no individual should be tied up against their own will and threatened by way of blackmail ‘If you tell anyone this, I’ll put pictures out.’ Why would she lie about that? And she’s telling her husband. He (Greitens) is a homewrecker.”
According to KMOV, Greitens has admitted to having an affair but has not confessed to the other allegations.
