Missouri: Soros-Backed Democrat Prosecutor’s Conduct Under Review in Greitens Case

The conduct of a George Soros-backed Democrat prosecutor in Missouri is under review for potential prosecutorial misconduct regarding her role in forcing former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican, out of office two years ago.

The scandal, at the heart of which is the conduct of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, has the potential to blow open a once-thought-to-be-successful effort by the left to force the resignation of a Republican governor in the Show Me state. Gardner rose to power locally in 2016 thanks to a shadow campaign heavily funded by a super PAC established and funded by Soros, the leftist billionaire, but now that her conduct–rather than Greitens’ actions–is under the microscope, things could change significantly on this storyline quickly in the coming days.

You can watch the 2016 Gardner campaign ad paid for by the Soros-funded Safety & Justice Committee and authorized by Gardner here:

In particular, Gardner is scheduled to be deposed on Friday by Special Prosecutor Gerard Carmody concerning her conduct during her investigation of Greitens, which led to the former GOP governor’s resignation in June 2018, just over a year into his term. While unrelated to similar efforts by leftists using government power to falsely investigate Republicans in Missouri, these revelations come after efforts against now Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)–who was targeted by local leftist officials falsely during his successful 2018 campaign against former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)–have withered under scrutiny.

Gardner’s conduct in the case, while still under investigation, is potentially yet another instance in a long line of the partisan politicization of the justice system by Democrats, the most well known example of which occurred in the 2018 confirmation hearing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. But Democrats have been engaging in this playbook in states across the country–such as in these examples against Greitens and Hawley–as well as at the national level against Kavanaugh and even President Donald Trump.

While Democrats have proceeded on such witch hunts with impunity in recent years, Gardner’s conduct may be one instance in which partisan abuses of power are addressed directly by the legal system, in this case by a court appointed special prosecutor.

Friday’s deposition is to obtain further evidence for the upcoming trial of William Tisaby, a former FBI agent with a checkered past, who was hired by Gardner two years ago to investigate allegations against then Gov. Greitens that he attempted to blackmail a woman he had an extramarital affair with in 2015. The woman was subsequently identified in public documents as “K.S.”.

Gardner’s hiring of Tisaby, a resident of Alabama whose small security firm was based in Michigan, rather than an investigator from a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency, was considered highly unusual at the time. Gardner’s critics believe she chose Tisaby in order to avoid the normal investigative procedures that local, state, or federal law enforcement agencies would have followed.

Tisaby was indicted in June 2019 by a grand jury convened by Special Prosecutor Carmody on seven felony charges for his conduct in that investigation. His trial is scheduled to begin on March 8.

Since Gardner was in charge of the investigation and hired Tisaby, how she responds to questions posed by Carmody in Friday’s deposition will be followed closely.

Greitens, a former Navy Seal, was elected governor of Missouri in November 2016. Gardner, a former state representative, was also elected in November 2016. The majority of her campaign funding– $200,000–came from “a  national super PAC partly funded by liberal billionaire George Soros,” as Business Insider reported.

A grand jury indicted then Gov. Greitens, based on evidence presented by Gardner on felony invasion of privacy charges in February 2018 for allegedly taking a nude photograph of K.S., the woman with whom he had an extramarital affair in 2015, and threatening to blackmail her with the nude photograph if she told anyone of the affair.

The grand jury then subsequently indicted Greitens on an additional felony computer tampering charge in April 2018.

Gardner dropped the felony invasion of privacy charges in May 2018, then dropped the felony computer tampering charges in exchange for Greiten’s resignation from office in June 2018. Upon his resignation, Lt. Gov. Mike Parsons, a Republican, became governor. Parsons is running for a full term as governor in the November 2020 general election.

Gardner never produced the alleged nude photograph of the woman she claimed was at the center of the felony invasion of privacy charges filed against Greitens. There are questions lingering as to whether the evidence Gardner claimed existed even actually did exist, as sources familiar with the case told Breitbart News they believe Gardner knew at the time she presented her evidence to the grand jury that indicted Greitens she knew that the purported nude photo of K.S. did not exist.

The primary evidence against Greitens in the felony invasion of privacy case was the testimony of K.S., which first surfaced in an audio recording of her conversation with her then-husband, “P.S.,” that appeared in an article published by WMOV on January 10, 2018.

K.S. provided statements about the allegations that precipitated the felony invasion of privacy charges in three interviews available in public documents, one conducted on January 29, 2018,  a second conducted on March 7, 2018 by the Missouri House of Representatives Oversight Committee (the Barnes Committee), chaired by State Rep. Jay Barnes, a Republican and a frequent critic of Greitens, and a third conducted on April 6, 2018 in a deposition by Greiten’s attorneys.

Shortly after the grand jury that indicted Tisaby finished its term in July 2019 without bringing additional charges against anyone else involved in the Greitens investigation Special Prosecutor Carmody released a statement confirming that his investigation was not over, and that he was empowered to continue the investigation and convene a new grand jury if needed, as the Associated Press reported:

The special prosecutor overseeing the investigation of how St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner prosecuted last year’s criminal case against former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens confirmed Thursday that the investigation is still ongoing, even though the grand jury has disbanded.

Special Prosecutor Gerard Carmody took the unusual step of putting out a statement clarifying that the grand jury disbanded Monday not because the investigation was complete, but because it reached its expiration and its term could not be extended.

“Notwithstanding the expiration of that Grand Jury’s term, the investigation into possible criminal activity will continue,” Carmody said in the statement.

It wasn’t clear if Carmody would seek a new grand jury or simply continue the investigation himself. A spokesman declined further comment.

Pressure on Gardner to release documents related to the Greitens case heated up earlier this month when journalist John Solomon “filed suit Jan. 10 in St. Louis Circuit Court accusing St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner’s office of failing to respond to records requests and to produce documents for months following his July request for ‘contacts between’ Gardner, her staff and multiple key players in the 2018 invasion of privacy investigation of then-Gov. Eric Greitens,” as St. Louis Today reported: 

On January 13, Circuit Attorney Gardner filed a bizarre lawsuit claiming she was the victim of systemic racial prejudice, as the Associated Press reported:

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner on Monday filed what she called an unprecedented federal civil rights lawsuit, accusing the city, the local police union and others of a coordinated and racist conspiracy aimed at forcing her out of office.

Gardner, the city’s elected prosecutor, also accused “entrenched interests” of intentionally impeding her efforts to reform racist practices that have led to a loss of trust in the criminal justice system.

The lawsuit alleges civil rights violations as well as violations of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. Gardner is black. The named defendants are white.

The lawsuit names the city of St. Louis, the St. Louis Police Officers Association, its business manager, Jeff Roorda, and Gerard Carmody, a special prosecutor who indicted an investigator hired by Gardner. It also names Carmody’s son and daughter, who helped in his investigation, and a former police officer who sued over Gardner’s use of private attorneys related to Carmody’s investigation.

As the Free Beacon reported, dozens of Soros-funded district attorneys from around the country flew in to St. Louis when Gardner announced her lawsuit to provide moral support to their colleague.

According to court documents reviewed by Breitbart News, Special Prosecutor Carmody is scheduled to conduct the deposition of Gardner on Friday at 9:30 a.m.

It remains to be seen what happens next, but the upcoming deposition of Gardner could blow open a whole series of new questions surrounding this case.