JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Gov. Eric Greitens’ defense attorney is urging Missouri’s Attorney General to recuse his office from the investigation into The Mission Continues. Attorney General Josh Hawley called the request “frivolous.”
According to a letter written Monday that they obtained, attorney Edward L. Dowd Jr. claims that Josh Hawley’s investigation is “clearly compromised” because he has “predetermined the guilt of his own investigative target.”
“The request for the Attorney General’s recusal from his investigation of The Mission Continues is frivolous,” the Attorney General’s Office said. “The Attorney General called for the Governor’s resignation because the House Investigative Committee concluded there was credible evidence that the Governor committed egregious sexual misconduct. The Attorney General’s investigation into The Mission Continues does not address those allegations. The fact that the Governor has been credibly accused of engaging in sexual misconduct does not give him or any entity with which he has associated immunity from investigation under the Missouri Merchandizing Practices Act (MMPA),”
Hawley was among numerous elected officials urging the governor to step down following a House investigative report graphically detailing Greitens extramarital affair. Testimony in the report allegedly slapping, grabbing, shoving, and other sexually aggressive acts.
“The House Investigative Committee’s Report contains shocking, substantial, and corroborated evidence of wrongdoing by Governor Greitens,” Hawley said last week. “The conduct the Report details is certainly impeachable, in my judgment, and the House is well within its rights to proceed on that front. But the people of Missouri should not be put through that ordeal. Governor Greitens should resign immediately,” Hawley said following the release of the report.
The Attorney General’s Office is currently investigating campaign ties between Greitens and The Mission Continues, a veterans charity founded by Greitens. In March, 14 subpoenas were issued relating to the investigation.
The investigation is centered around the use of charities donor list and the use of an email address for campaign-related business. The Mission Continues has denied any involvement.
Alisha Shurr was a reporter for The Missouri Times and The Missouri Times Magazine. She joined The Missouri Times in January 2018 after working as a copy editor for her hometown newspaper in Southern Oregon. Alisha is a graduate of Kansas State University.
