Suppose you can be removed from office for uncharged, unproven incidents that occurred before you ever took office.
That’s how one ought to think about what’s happening to Missouri Governor Eric Greitens — and to President Trump.
Many in the media are calling on Governor Greitens to resign or be impeached, based on a report published by a committee in the Missouri State House. Those same voices have, for the last two years, accosted President Trump (and candidate Trump), calling on him to drop out of the race and to leave the Presidency.
But hold on, many of us say: have any of these allegations been proven? No. Are there police reports? No. Was the governor or the president charged with sexual assault or battery? No. Have the women at the center of these cases testified in a court of law? No.
What’s happening in Missouri is a shadow of what’s happening in Washington: the Democrats, desperate to do anything to unseat a president they don’t like, are bringing up past relationships to try to embarrass and potentially impeach him.
If Governor Greitens is allowed to be taken down by Democrats for what he may or may not have done years ago, that same argument will be interpreted and used by Democrats in the House of Representatives to take down President Trump. That’s scary for any and all of us who support President Trump and his agenda.
We have known from the beginning that the case against President Trump was a witch hunt being led by Democrats who are simply still upset that they lost an election. The case against Governor Greitens has similar origins.
We know it’s been led by Democrats. We know the Democrat circuit attorney who brought these charges is funded by George Soros. We know that the former head of Missouri’s Democratic Party, Roy Temple, has been subpoenaed and was speaking to a reporter about the story — a reporter at a liberal outlet who has been called as a fact witness in the case. We know that Sen. Claire McCaskill has come out attacking the Governor and calling for his resignation from the first news report. In other words, the media, the legal system, and politicians from the fringe left are arrayed and organized against the Governor.
Color me surprised.
We also know this: their case against the Governor is as shaky as the case against Donald Trump. The report that was published on Wednesday is based on one side’s account, and it may well be false, through no fault of the people who produced it. The Democrat circuit attorney hid evidence in this case, which mysteriously reemerged just days ago: a video tape that the prosecutor said had been lost and then, just before the release of this damaging report, was miraculously found.
According to the hearing testimony, that video tape may prove that the affair was consensual, and that the description the woman gave to the House committee was incorrect or incomplete.
Greitens’ attorneys did the right thing: they brought this to the judge, who appears to be aghast at the possible concealment of evidence from his courtroom. If the transcript of the hearing is to be believed, he may himself bar the prosecutor from this case or dismiss it entirely. The concealment of exculpatory evidence is very troubling, and it should trouble all Americans.
More importantly, the court transcript shows the real bombshell: the woman at the center of this awful story has changed her story. While she told the House committee that she was assaulted and forced to perform sexual acts against her will, the two-hour video tells a different story: that throughout this whole affair, she was a willing and consensual participant.
Just to make this point crystal clear: the Missouri House committee report is potentially in direct opposition to a two-hour video that was hidden from the public and from Greitens attorneys until just yesterday. Meaning, the Missouri House committee report could well be incorrect, and at a minimum, it needs to be reconsidered in light of this new evidence.
To anyone who is paying attention, this is as significant a development in this case as the report published yesterday. Evidence we did not have tells a story we do not know. If the woman lied to the House committee, then the members of the media and politicians who are rushing to call on the Governor to resign may want to pause. That includes Republicans like Attorney General Josh Hawley and Representative Ann Wagner.
More measured voices — like that of Sen. Roy Blunt — have said what every person in a position of power should be saying: hold your horses. Let the trial run its course. Allow the Governor the same rights accorded to any American: the chance to defend himself in the court of law.
The bottom line is this: if Governor Greitens is brought down by Democrats because of an affair he had three years ago, the Democrats will subject the entire country to impeachment proceedings, and they will point to their Missouri Coup as the prime example of how such a thing can be done.
To put it in brief: If Governor Greitens goes down, the Democrats will smell blood in the water for all Republican officer-holders, including the President.
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