Sheena Greitens’ lawyer says she will ‘absolutely’ use Eric Greitens’ ad in custody dispute
The attorney representing Sheena Greitens in a child custody dispute with former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens on Monday said she plans to file as an exhibit a new campaign video that depicts him and a group of men in tactical gear hunting Republicans who they do not consider adequately conservative.
In the video released Monday, Greitens, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, carries a gun and says he’s hunting RINOs, an acronym that means “Republicans in name only.”
“Today, we’re going RINO hunting,” Greitens says in the video. “The RINO feeds on corruption and are marked by the stripes of cowardice.”
Helen Wade, Sheena Greitens’ lawyer, told The Star she would “absolutely” use the video in the couple’s ongoing court case. The custody dispute garnered renewed interest in March after Sheena Greitens filed an affidavit accusing Eric Greitens of physical and emotional abuse against her and their children.
“This is over the line,” Wade said, referring to the video. Wade confirmed she would file a motion to make the video an exhibit in the ongoing custody case.
Eric Greitens, through his attorney, has denied the abuse allegations and painted them as a broader political conspiracy orchestrated by establishment Republicans. He has not filed any sworn statements in the case, but has used social media and campaign emails to cast Sheena Greitens as a liar.
In a statement to The Star, Gary Stamper, Eric Greitens’ attorney, said, “Politics has nothing to do with parenting and our focus remains on the children.”
Sheena Greitens, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin, is seeking to move the case to Texas, where she lives. A court hearing in the case is scheduled for Thursday.
In the sworn statement dated March 15, Sheena Greitens alleged that in June 2018 she became afraid for her safety and the safety of their two children — now 7 and 5 — because of Eric Greitens’ “unstable and coercive behavior.”
“This behavior included physical violence toward our children, such as cuffing our then three-year-old son across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by his hair,” the affidavit said.
She alleged that in late April 2018 the then-governor “knocked me down and confiscated my cell phone, wallet, and keys so that I was unable to call for help or extricate myself and our children from our home at Innsbrook, Missouri.”
The statement alleged Eric Greitens later told Sheena Greitens’ mother that “he did so to prevent me from doing anything that might damage his political career.”
Last month, a Boone County judge allowed Eric Greitens access to Sheena Greitens’ cell phone records — a request he made to cast the abuse allegations as a political conspiracy. The court denied Eric Greitens’ similar requests for the cell phone records of his former campaign manager Austin Chambers and Sheena Greitens’ sister Catherine Linkul.
After receiving the records last month, Wade, Sheena Greitens’ attorney, told The Star they were “devoid of any evidence supportive of Eric’s claims.”
Sheena Greitens’ allegations also renewed interest in a 2018 letter from then-Missouri state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed that asked the Department of Public Safety to investigate rumors of an incident involving “troubling behavior” at Greitens’ private home. The letter demonstrated that at least once in 2018, concerns about Eric Greitens’ at-home conduct were shared with state and local authorities.
Nasheed’s April 2018 letter raised concerns about “unconfirmed rumors” circulating in the Capitol “involving an incident at the Greitens’ Innsbrook home involving troubling behavior, the presence of firearms and a member of the Governor’s cabinet.” She told then-DPS Director Charles “Drew” Juden that given Eric Greitens’ past use of violent rhetoric and verbal threats the rumors should be “investigated thoroughly.”
Juden wrote back that he had contacted law enforcement agencies. “None of these agencies have received any information similar to that which you provided in your letter,” he said.
Greitens is currently the front-runner in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. He is trying to revive his political career after being forced to resign as Missouri’s governor amid a long list of scandals that included allegations that he sexually abused and blackmailed a woman with whom he was having an affair.
Greitens was roundly criticized for the video on social media and immediately denounced by competing Senate candidates of both parties. State Sen. Dave Schatz, one of Greitens’ GOP primary opponents, called the video “completely irresponsible.”
“That’s why I’m running,” Schatz said in a statement. “It’s time to restore sanity and reject this nonsense. Missouri deserves better.”
The video is not the first time Greitens has advocated for violence against his political opponents in a campaign ad.
Earlier this year he appeared in a video with Donald Trump Jr. where the two fired weapons at a shooting range and said “liberals beware.” Greitens gubernatorial candidacy also featured ads with him firing weapons. In one, he sat and fired a machine gun into a lake.
The Star’s Daniel Desrochers contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 20, 2022 at 12:53 PM.
