The leading candidate in Missouri’s race for U.S. Senate, former Gov. Eric Greitens (R-MO), appeared on Breitbart News Saturday and laid out the “bright contrast” between himself and his opponent, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, after Schmitt’s relationship with a radical leftist who called for former President Donald J. Trump’s assassination came to light this week.
With just over two weeks until the August 2 primaries in Missouri, the Republican race for the U.S. Senate nomination is red-hot. While it seemed to be a three-way contest between Greitens, Schmitt, and Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), the major news that Trump would not support Hartzler has set the stage for a fight to the finish between Greitens and Schmitt, with Trump’s endorsement looming.
While speaking with Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle, Greitens laid out the dichotomy between himself and his opponents.
“Well, I think it’s incredibly simple, and a lot of the wisdom behind this election was actually in President Trump’s latest statement, where he said that he was not going to be supporting Vicky Hartzler because he said we need leaders who are willing to take on the mainstream media, who are willing to take on the left, and who are also willing to take on theses disgusting RINOs,” Greitens said. “My opponents like Vicky Hartzler, like Eric Schmitt, have all said that they are supporting Mitch McConnell. I was the first guy in the country to say that when I am elected to the United States Senate, I am voting against Mitch McConnell because we need new America First leadership, and I think that’s really what this comes down to. There’s some really bright contrast in this race.”
As Breitbart News reported Wednesday, Schmitt has ties to far-left former State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, who called for then-President Trump’s assassination in 2017. Just months before Schmitt held a private fundraiser at Trump’s sprawling Mar-a-Lago estate in March, Chappelle-Nadal shared a picture of herself and Schmitt smiling together with the caption “7 years ago today. We are still moving mountains.” Breitbart News reached out to Chappelle-Nadal, who detailed a close relationship with Schmitt during their time in the Missouri State Senate, noting they “worked very well together.”
His ties to the radical politician not only raise questions about his judgment of character but also pose legitimate worries he could continue to help the far left advance their agenda at the federal level should he be elected to the U.S. Senate. What is more, many politicians in the state, both left and right, censured Chappelle-Nadal and called for her resignation over her Trump assassination comments in 2017, but Schmitt’s campaign failed to provide concrete evidence that he did so at the time while serving as state treasurer. Rich Chrismer, a spokesman for the campaign, expressed in a written statement that “General Schmitt condemns the comments.” While he condemns them now, Breitbart News pressed the campaign for documentation that he denounced them at the time, to which Chrismer claimed Schmitt “thought her comments were outrageous” and “said as much in local radio interviews at the time.” Still, the campaign did not corroborate the assertion with proof.
While speaking with Boyle, Greitens pointed out that he “by contrast, called for the state senator to resign” while he was the sitting governor.
“We can have differences in our country, but no one should encourage political violence,” said then-Gov. Greitens, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “The senator should resign.”
“Eric Schmitt continues to be one of her friends. He obviously has to answer for himself,” Greitens told Boyle. “I mean, I find it despicable that an elected official, that Nadal, would say something and not resign. I called for her to resign when I was governor, and I think anybody who still associates with her should seriously consider disavowing her. But that’s the kind of differences in this race, the really bright contrast.”
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“He always talked about how he was working with leftist Democrats like State Senator Chappelle-Nadal, who called for President Trump’s assassination,” the former governor later stated. “He worked with her on things like his bill to sell Missouri farmland to China, he was the leading proponent for it. Like his bill to make Missouri quote, in his words, a “China hub,” taking taxpayer dollars away from the people of Missouri and using them to benefit communist China. So on all of these issues, what you see is it was a failure of the RINOs on these policy issues which continue to hurt the American people.”
Greitens also emphasized that he is the true “MAGA fighter in this race.”
“By contrast, I’m an incredibly strong America First candidate, obviously served my country in the Navy SEALs. So, I think at the end of the day, this is a really strong, really bright contrast between the two of us. I am against Mitch McConnell, Eric Schmitt is for Mitch McConnell. I am supported by MAGA. I have got Kimberly Guilfoyle on my team, Seb Gorka, Dennis Prager, Veterans for Trump, Women for Trump, Black Voices for Trump – all of whom have endorsed my campaign –and by contrast, you’ve got some of McConnell’s biggest donors supporting Eric Schmitt, so I think that’s the real contrast. People are hurting, and they recognize that this is no time for weak, corrupt, RINO Republicans. Instead, we need to have MAGA fighters. I’m the MAGA fighter in this race, and that’s why we’re continuing to win, and we’re going to win these next two weeks, Matt, and bring home a victory on August 2.”