Missouri state Sen. Rob Schaff penned a letter to President Trump on Thursday asking him to call on Gov. Eric Greitens to step down amid allegations of sexual assault and blackmail.
“But it is also true that as a Navy SEAL, his [Greitens] training has taught him to always obey his Commander-in-Chief. While he has it wired into his personality never to shy from battle, he may listen to you, the one person who might be able to get this soldier to stand down,” Schaff wrote in the letter, which he shared on Twitter Thursday.
Letter to Trump: #moleg pic.twitter.com/JG1IaQog5K
— Rob Schaaf (@robschaaf) April 12, 2018
The Missouri House of Representatives formed a bipartisan investigative committee which found the testimony of woman who had an extramarital affair with Greitens to be credible. In the report from the committee, the woman — who was Greiten’s former hairdresser — detailed allegations of a nonconsensual sexual encounter with Greitens.
Allegations of the affair, which occurred in 2015, surfaced in December 2017 when the ex-husband of the woman gave news outlets tapes of the two discussing their sexual encounters. According to the new report, Greitens is accused of taking a partially nude photo of the woman without her consent.
The woman also testified under oath before the panel of lawmakers that the governor slapped her after discovering she was still having sexual relations with her husband. She also said that she preformed oral sex on the governor while she cried and was not sure whether she could leave the sexual encounter.
Greitens admitted to the affair but has denied blackmailing the woman.
Missouri state Sen. Mike Kenoe, who holds the No. 2 leadership post in the legislature’s upper chamber, also called on the governor to resign.
“Should the governor choose not to resign, I am persuaded that he has not only burned bridges, he has blown them up to where it will be impossible for him to effectively lead the state going forward,” Kehoe said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., also criticized Greitens following the report, calling him “unfit to lead.”
