The Missouri attorney general’s office has uncovered “evidence of potential criminal acts of wrongdoing” by Gov. Eric Greitens, Attorney General Josh Hawley announced Tuesday.
At issue, Hawley said, is an electronic donor list Greitens obtained from a Missouri nonprofit called The Mission Continues. Evidence suggests Greitens unlawfully used that list to fundraise for his own political purposes, the AG said.
“[Greitens] did all of this without permission of The Mission Continues,” Hawley said at the Tuesday morning press conference. “This is known as computer tampering. Given the value of the list in question, it is a felony.”
Hawley said his office lacks the jurisdiction to prosecute the governor for the alleged crime. The AG’s office has passed the evidence along to St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who will make the decision on whether to charge the governor, Hawley said.
As for whether the evidence is grounds for impeachment, Hawley said that’s a matter for Missouri state lawmakers to decide.
Last week, a woman who Greitens previously admitted to having an extramarital affair with in March 2015 revealed their sexual encounters weren’t always consensual and were sometimes violent.
The governor was arrested in February on charges of felony invasion of privacy related to the affair. The woman says Greitens blindfolded and took a nude photo of her without her permission, then used the photo to blackmail her into silence.
When asked about Hawley’s announcement on Tuesday, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the vice chairman of the Senate GOP conference, said both the legislative and legal process “should be allowed” to play out.
“I believe both of those are appropriate at this moment to find out what the real facts are,” he told HuffPost.
The Mission Continues, which Greitens co-founded in 2007, helps veterans transition back into civilian life by placing them in volunteer roles with community organizations.
The nonprofit’s president, Spencer Kympton, acknowledged the investigation into Greitens’ alleged misuse of its resources in a statement released late last month.
“We are supporting various document requests and are fully cooperating with the agencies that are reviewing this situation,” Kympton wrote. “We look forward to the completion of those efforts in a timely manner.”
This article has been updated with comment from Sen. Roy Blunt.