Former Missouri governor and GOP Senate hopeful Eric Greitens is facing allegations of physical abuse and unstable behavior from his ex-wife, Sheena Greitens, according to an affidavit made public on Monday.
According to the documents, which were are related to their child custody battle in Missouri, Sheena Greitens said she and their children were subjected to aggressive behavior before the couple divorced.
“Prior to our divorce, during an argument in late April 2018, Eric knocked me down and confiscated my cell phone, wallet and keys so that I was unable to call for help or extricate myself and our children from our home,” the filing said.
“In early June 2018, I became afraid for my safety and that of our children at our home, which was fairly isolated, due to Eric’s unstable and coercive behavior,” she continued in the court document. “This behavior included physical violence toward our children, such as cuffing our then three-year-old son across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by the hair.”
HAWLEY NOT ‘TRYING TO PLAY GOTCHA’ OVER JACKSON’S PAST TREATMENT OF SEX OFFENDERS
Eric and Sheena Greitens divorced in the wake of a sex scandal involving the Senate candidate allegedly taking a compromising photo of his hairstylist without her knowledge during the course of an affair and threatening to use it as blackmail. While the invasion of privacy felony charge was ultimately dropped, he resigned from his position in 2018.
In the affidavit, Sheena Greitens also alleged that her then-husband “threatened to accuse me of child abuse if I did not delete the emails and convince the therapist to delete them” in fear of facing political repercussions and threatened to use his political connections to derail her career.
Eric Greitens’s campaign denied the accusations in a statement, alleging Sheena Greitens is launching a “politically motivated attack” against him.
“Eric Greitens is a great Dad, who was married to a woman with a documented history of mental illness and emotionally-abusive behavior. While he spent all of last week on a Spring Break with both of his boys, his ex-wife went to Washington D.C. for the week and prepared to launch what is clearly a politically-motivated attack against him, by releasing gross, completely false and allegations to the press, on the very week that the people who falsely-accused Greitens in 2018 are now going to trial,” the statement said.
“One of the documented reasons Eric sought a divorce from Sheena, was because of her constant threats to lie about him, which she made repeatedly over many years, in the belief that the press would believe anything that she said,” the campaign added.
Following the latest allegations, Eric Greitens’s opponents have called on the candidate, who is seen as one of the leading candidates in the race, to drop out.
“These allegations of abuse are disgusting and sickening. As Missouri’s attorney general, I know a predator when I see one, and I have fought for victims every step of the way,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt tweeted. “The behavior described in this affidavit is cause for Eric Greitens to be in prison, not on the ballot for U.S. Senate. He should end his campaign immediately.”
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Critics of Eric Greitens, who is seeking an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, have voiced concerns that if he wins the primary, it could increase Democrats’ chances of taking the seat.
Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri’s sitting Republican senator, recently endorsed Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler in the crowded primary race.
