Missouri State Rep Calls for FBI Investigation into ‘Effort to Overturn the 2016 Election’ of Gov. Eric Greitens

State Rep. Justin Hill filed a resolution in the Missouri House of Representatives on Tuesday calling on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the “effort to overturn the 2016 election” of former Gov. Eric Greitens.

Fox 2 St. Louis reported:

State Rep. Justin Hill (R-Lake St. Louis) wants to know the source of large cash payments that went to one of the attorneys at the center of an investigation into Greitens.

There was conflicting testimony in 2018 when a House Committee looked into the source of that money. Hill filed House Resolution 5036 asking the US Department of Justice to investigate. Hill said large sums of cash payments are often an indication of illegal activity. Hill believes Missourians should know whether outside forces were trying to disrupt Missouri elections.

“There’s a lot of parties involved internally here in Jefferson City that probably can’t do the due diligence the federal government can,” said Hill.

House Resolution 5036, “Urges the FBI to investigate payments made to attorneys in an effort to overturn the 2016 Missouri governor’s election,” according to the official website of the Missouri House of Representatives. As of Friday, the resolution already has eight co-sponsors, all Republicans, in the Missouri House of Representatives.

The resolution, a copy of which was obtained by Breitbart News, focuses on the source of $120,000 in cash payments made to the attorney for the ex-husband of a woman at the center of the scandal that ended in Greitens’ resignation from office in June 2018 after his election as governor in November 2016, and makes these specific points:

• Circuit Attorney [Kim] Gardner launched her investigation of Governor Greitens the day after a television station released audiotape a woman’s ex-husband claimed to have secretly recorded years earlier.
• The attorney for the ex-husband, Al Watkins, received $120,000 in four separate cash payments relating to the audiotape.
• Mr. Watkins testified before the Missouri House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight that he received $50,000 in cash two days before the television station released the audiotape.
• Mr. Watkins further testified that he received $50,000 more in cash one day before the television station released the audiotape.
• Mr. Watkins also testified that he was told by newspaper publisher Scott Faughn that the cash came from a wealthy out-of-state political donor who wanted Governor Greitens removed from office.
• Mr. Faughn, who personally delivered at least $50,000 of the cash to Mr. Watkins, testified before the Missouri House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight that all of the cash paid to Mr. Watkins was his.
• Mr. Faughn testified that he paid $120,000 to Mr. Watkins to purchase the audiotape for a book he planned to write.
• Mr. Faughn has not published a book since he claims to have purchased the audiotape in January 2018.
• Other members of the media obtained the audiotape without making cash payments to Mr. Watkins.
• In light of the conflicting testimony from Mr. Watkins and Mr. Faughn, the source of the $120,000 remains unknown.

“It is important for the people of Missouri to know who paid Mr. Watkins $120,000 in cash and what their motives were in order to better understand the effort to overturn the 2016 election,” the resolution continues, before concluding:

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we, the members of the Missouri House of Representatives, One Hundredth General Assembly, Second Regular Session, hereby urge the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the $120,000 in cash payments to Mr. Watkins and the effort to overturn the 2016 election for Missouri’s governor.

There is not, as of yet, a companion resolution in the Missouri State Senate.

Last week, the Missouri Ethics Commission issued a report of its investigation into a complaint filed by former State Rep. Jay Barnes in July 2018 that concluded there was “no evidence of any wrongdoing,” by former Gov. Greitens, as Breitbart News reported:

Barnes, a member of the same party as Greitens but a political opponent, filed a complaint with the Missouri Election Commission on July 10, 2018 that launched the investigation that has now been completed, alleging that “A New Missouri,” the non-profit that provided the unreported in-kind contributions to Greitens for Missouri, constituted “a criminal enterprise.”

From February 2018 until shortly after Greitens’ resignation, Barnes chaired an oversight committee of the Missouri House of Representatives that investigated Greitens’ conduct as governor. . .

Barnes’ biography at the website of Simmons Hanley Conroy touts his role in the investigation of Greitens, which has now ended in what Greitens calls “complete exoneration.” . . .

Breitbart News contacted former State Rep. Barnes for comment on the release of the MEC report, but has not yet received a response.

The official biography of Barnes on the Simmons Hanley Conroy website shows the same information it did prior to the release of the MEC report and the subsequent filing of State Rep. Hill’s resolution calling for an FBI investigation:

In early 2018, Jay’s focus was largely focused with the investigation into Greitens’ misconduct. After the former governor’s resignation, Jay received praise for his bipartisan professionalism that led him to uncover the truth.

In an editorial published in the Kansas City Star, the paper’s editors were quick to bolster this praise.

“Rep. Jay Barnes and other members of the committee he led deserved special credit for handling this difficult task with complete professionalism […] Missourians owe a debt to Barnes, and all the members of the Greitens committee, for their hard work, seriousness of purpose, transparency and bipartisan approach,” the editorial read.

Notably, while serving as chairman of the House Oversight Committee examining the conduct of Gov. Greitens in 2018, Barnes did not press either Watkins or Faughn for details and bank records on the identity of the individual or group that provided the $120,000 in cash to Faughn, which he in turn provided to Watkins.

Breitbart News has contacted former State Rep. Barnes and asked for comment on State Rep. Hill’s resolution calling for an FBI investigation, but has not yet received a response.