Woman testifies that Greitens groped and hit her; Missouri governor blasts ‘lies’ and ‘tabloid trash’

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — During several sexual encounters with his hair stylist the year before he was elected Missouri's governor, Eric Greitens struck her in the face, touched her crotch without her consent and called her a "whore," the woman told a Missouri House committee, according to newly released documents.

The claims add disturbing new layers to the single criminal allegation Greitens faces — a felony invasion-of-privacy charge, for allegedly taking and transmitting a semi-nude photo of her without her consent.

In sworn testimony made March 7, the woman stood by that allegation as presented in the House report released Wednesday afternoon. She also painted a broader picture of Greitens as a controlling, jealous lover for whom violence or the threat of it was an integral part of the affair.

Minutes before the report was issued, Greitens referred to a "political witch hunt" five times in about eight minutes. He referred to "lies and falsehoods," though he didn't specify which parts of the report he claims are false.

During one encounter in the summer of 2015, the woman testified, Greitens struck her and shoved her to the ground as they became intimate in his Central West End home.

"And I instantly just started bawling and was just like, 'What is wrong with you? What is wrong with you?'" she told the committee. "And I just laid there crying while he was just like … 'You're fine, you're fine.'"

During another encounter, she alleges, he physically restrained her from leaving his home and insisted she give him oral sex, even though she was crying.

Those were among multiple new allegations contained in a 24-page report by the Special Investigative Committee on Oversight, which the Missouri House voted unanimously to form on March 1 after a St. Louis grand jury handed up the felony invasion-of-privacy charge against Greitens, a Republican. The committee's report could ultimately be the first step in an impeachment process.

The invasion-of-privacy criminal charge, which is a separate process, followed the revelation in the media in January that Greitens had engaged in an extramarital affair in 2015. Greitens at that time admitted to the affair but denied allegations that he took a nonconsensual photograph of the woman and threatened to release it if she ever spoke of their affair.

While she was bound and blindfolded during that encounter, she told the committee, Greitens ripped open the T-shirt he'd had her put on and pulled down her pants. She said she then heard noise of a cellphone, "like a picture, and I can see the flash through the blindfold."

"(H)e says, 'You're not going to mention my name,'" she said. "'Don't even mention my name to anybody at all, because if you do, I'm going to take these pictures, and I'm going to put them everywhere, and then everyone will know what a little whore you are.'"

Among other allegations in the woman's testimony:

— The first time she met Greitens, a former Navy SEAL, at his home, he "shushed" her, went through her purse and patted her down, "I guess to see if I was wearing a wire … I'm like, oh my gosh, I guess this is a Navy SEAL thing."

— After snapping the photo, threatening her with exposure and calling her a "whore," Greitens "came up close to me and said 'Are you going to say anything? Are you going to mention my name?' … I just didn't answer at all, and then he spanked me and said, 'Are you going to mention my name?' And I … just gritted through my teeth and said, 'no.'"

— After the incident with the photo, she tried to leave the basement, "bawling my eyes out." Greitens pulled her to the floor in what she described as "bear hug," trying to calm her down but also continuing to fondle her. "He starts undoing his pants, and he takes his penis out and puts it, like, near where my face is … (H)e's not going to let me leave, because he's obviously still horny. So I gave him oral sex at this point."

— During a later sexual encounter in Greitens' bedroom, he asked her if she'd slept with anyone in the time since they'd started seeing each other. "I said, 'Well, I slept with my husband' … and he slapped me across the face … . (and) said, 'What do you mean you slept with your husband? You are not supposed to be sleeping with him.'" She said the open-handed slap was hard enough that it "swung my face."

When the woman confessed to her husband about the affair, his immediate reaction, she said, was, "I'm going to get this guy one day. I'm going to get him." It was the husband, two years later and divorced from her, who would bring the allegations to light by leaking to the media an audio tape in which she talks about the affair.

Greitens, who took no questions from reporters in his response to the report Wednesday, called the affair at the center of the allegations "a personal mistake."

"This was a private mistake that has nothing to do with governing," he said. "The people driving this story are part of absurd political witch hunt."

"The people of Missouri see through this," he said. "And they know better than to trust one-sided tabloid trash gossip that was produced in a secret report."

Lt. Gov. Mike Parson, who would become governor if Greitens was indicted, issued a statement calling for unity.

"With the recent events that have distracted our great state, I want to say with all sincerity that it is time to unite and put aside our differences," said Parson, like Greitens a Republican. He added: "My heart goes out to the families involved."

Meanwhile, Democratic members of the House committee investigating Greitens said they would continue their work despite the governor's attacks.

"Our committee remains dedicated to its task and will not be deterred by Eric Greitens' baseless attacks on our witnesses, our integrity or our common sense," the statement reads. "And as we move forward, we remain sympathetic to the victim and the governor's family for what they are being forced to endure as a result of the governor's actions and choices."

Greitens has governed under a cloud since the January revelation of the affair, with several members of his own party calling for him to resign.

The revelations also attracted attention to other matters to which Greitens may have to reckon, including potentially illegal use of assets from his former charity, The Mission Continues, and his use of untraceable political donations to further his career. Transcripts of the committee's discussions indicate that members are continuing to investigate those issues and will release more about them in a later report.

The report contains redaction hiding the name of the woman with whom Greitens had the affair, who is designated "Witness 1." The St. Louis Post-Dispatch hasn't publicly named her because she may be the victim of a sexually related crime and hasn't agreed to be interviewed.

Notably, the committee members — who would be among those determining Greitens' political future should he face impeachment — conclude in the report that the woman is a "credible witness." The report also concludes that her account is corroborated by three other witnesses before the committee: her ex-husband and two friends she talked to about her encounters with Greitens.

Greitens was invited to testify before the committee. His legal team told the committee that the governor would not testify "at this point in time."

"The Committee notes that Greitens has the constitutional right to so decline," the report states. "To the extent this report does not include Greitens' perspective, that is the result of his choice not to participate."

The House adjourned Wednesday morning and, after a round of committee hearings, House Republicans began caucusing outside of the Capitol to discuss the report.

Democrats, meanwhile, gathered in a hearing room in the basement of the Capitol to review the report. Sen. Jamilah Nasheed said upon exiting the meeting that the findings were "embarrassing."

"It's horrific. There was no holding back in that report. Very sexual in nature. I just feel bad about it. I couldn't even be in there listening to it," Nasheed told the Post-Dispatch.

"If he doesn't step down, the impeachment process should start immediately," she said.

Sen. Jill Schupp said upon leaving the meeting that "on a personal level, I continue to be disappointed in the governor," she said. "And it goes beyond disappointment. This is not a man worthy of the job of governor of this state."

After the report's release Wednesday, multiple rank-and-file Republican lawmakers declined to comment.

The woman's account of her months-long, tumultuous affair with Greitens includes salacious and pedestrian details of what started as mild flirtation between a hairdresser and her already quasi-famous client.

The woman testified that she met Greitens in 2013, when he was already a best-selling author and was the subject of speculation about a future political career. "We got to know each other pretty well, and I thought he was great," she told the committee. "I thought he was this perfect guy."

Upon his first appointment after a long absence, she said, "I was super nervous because he was one of — you know, really, my only client that I had somewhat of a crush on."

During that appointment, on March 7, 2015, the woman said, Greitens moved his hand up her leg while they were talking.

"At first I just ignored it … and then he, like, moved his hand all the way up to my crotch, at which point I stepped back and was like, 'What are you doing?'"

She testified that she continued communicating with him after that because she was separated from her husband, wasn't sure of the state of his marriage and was "at least curious" about the possibility of a relationship. She suggested meeting publicly for coffee, but he responded that "I cannot be seen in public with you. I'm running for office. People are going to be out to get me, they cannot see me with you," according to the report.

The woman went to Greitens' Central West End home in the St. Louis area, through the back door, on the morning of March 21. That is when Greitens shushed her, patted her down and searched her purse, she said.

She said she wanted to talk about their relationships, but Greitens said the two "don't have a whole lot of time," she said, recalling Greitens' statements. "Have you exercised today?"

"It was like he was on a mission, sort of," she told the committee. She went ahead and agreed to a workout. She said she walked into a bathroom and changed into clothes Greitens had laid out — a white T-shirt with a slit at the top, and pajama pants. He said he would show her how to do a "proper pull-up."

"I thought this was going to be some sort of, like, sexy workout," she said.

She told the committee he taped her hands to pull-up rings with "this gauzed tape stuff" and blindfolded her.

"(H)e kind of had this controlling sort of — again, it almost as if he had a — like we were on a movie set. … (H)e was in a controlled state, which at this point was intriguing to me."

She then said he spit water into her mouth, "at which point I realized he's trying to kiss me, but I don't even want to kiss him … So I just spit it out."

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(Post-Dispatch reporters Robert Patrick and Sky Chadde contributed to this story.)