Missouri legislators to weigh impeachment of scandal-plagued governor

[May 18, 2018]  (Reuters) - Missouri legislators are set to convene on Friday to weigh the possible impeachment of Governor Eric Greitens, who has been embroiled in separate sex and fundraising scandals that have led to mounting pressure for his resignation.

The Republican-controlled Missouri General Assembly is scheduled to begin a special session in Jefferson City, Missouri, to consider what disciplinary steps to take against the first-term Republican governor, including impeachment, after hearing the recommendations of a special House investigative panel.

Greitens has vowed to remain in office while he fights to clear his name. No Missouri governor has ever been impeached.

Greitens, a 44-year-old former Navy SEAL commando once seen as a rising star in the Republican Party, was previously charged with felony invasion of privacy in connection with an admitted extramarital affair in 2015 with a hairdresser before he was elected. He has said he is innocent, the relationship was consensual and he was the subject of a political witch hunt.

On Monday, however, St. Louis prosecutors dropped the charge before his trial got under way after a state judge agreed to allow the defense to call as a witness St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, a Democrat whom defense attorneys accused of misconduct. Prosecutors have said they will refile the case.

Greitens was accused of taking a photo of his lover in a state of undress without her consent and making it accessible by computer to use as retaliation should she divulge their relationship. He has denied threatening to blackmail her and his attorneys have noted the alleged photograph has never been produced.

Meanwhile, the governor faces a separate trial on an unrelated charge of computer tampering as prosecutors allege he obtained and transmitted a donor list from a military veterans charity he founded in 2007 without the charity's consent to aid his political fundraising.

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens appears in a police booking photo in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., February 22, 2018. St. Louis Metropolitan Police Dept./Handout via REUTERS/File Picture

Greitens' attorney has called the charge "absurd" and said his client is innocent.

State officials expect the special House investigative committee, formed in February to examine misconduct allegations against Greitens, to complete its work and present a final report to the Assembly during the special session, which begins at 6:30 p.m. local time (2330 GMT) Friday and could last 30 days. The House and Senate are expected to complete their action on the panel's findings in that time frame.

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, among others, has said that findings presented in the House committee's initial report on April 11, detailing allegations of sexual coercion and physical abuse by Greitens, were grounds for impeachment.

The Missouri state constitution counts "moral turpitude," among other things, as impeachable conduct.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Bill Rigby)

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