Duke alum and Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens faces grand jury investigation

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, Trinity ‘96, is now facing a grand jury investigation for allegedly blackmailing a woman with whom he had an affair.

Al Watkins, the attorney for the ex-husband of the woman involved in the Greitens affair, said in a news release that his client had been subpoenaed by the grand jury. This move signals that the jury is now in the process of hearing testimony and gathering evidence regarding Greitens’ involvement in the affair.

"The issuance of a grand jury subpoena indicates that the Circuit Attorney's Office has elevated its undertakings to include Grand Jury proceedings, for which subpoena power and other discovery tools are available," Watkins said.

Greitens, a former Rhodes Scholar and Navy SEAL, publicly acknowledged the affair with his former hairdresser in January but repudiated the allegations of blackmail.

One piece of evidence will likely be an audio recording taken by the woman’s ex-husband of a conversation between husband and wife about the woman’s interactions with Greitens. In the recording, the woman alleges that Greitens took a scandalous photo of her while she was tied up and blindfolded, and that he threatened to release it if she revealed the nature of their relationship. 

Jim Bennett, an attorney representing Greitens, told KCUR that he and Greitens have yet to hear from any law enforcement agencies.

Some of Greitens’ aides have also come under fire for communicating via the text messaging app Confide, which automatically erases a text after the recipient has read it and prevents any screenshots of the message.

In response, two St. Louis County attorneys filed a lawsuit alleging that the use of Confide violates Missouri’s open records laws. Judge Jon Beteem announced Feb. 2 that he would not issue a temporary restraining order to ban the governor’s staff from using the app.