DANNY WICENTOWSKI
Eric Greitens.
Angered by a motion filed by lawyers for Governor Eric Greitens, his former lover has released a statement — calling on him to tell the truth.
The woman at the center of the criminal case against Greitens has kept her silence in the media, issuing to date just one statement begging for privacy. But in a highly unusual statement released by her lawyer at 8:40 p.m. tonight, the woman blasted her former lover for allowing his lawyers to mischaracterize her deposition — and called on him to "take responsibility for his actions, as well as the actions of his team, which is made up of the best lawyers other people's money can buy."
In the statement, the woman said that Greitens had admitted to her "on multiple occasions" that he had taken her photograph "without her consent, and threatened to release it if she told anyone about their relationship." Those allegations — which she later told her estranged husband about as he secretly recorded her — are the linchpin of the felony charge pending against Greitens for invasion of privacy.
But as Greitens' team has mounted an aggressive attempt to bat back the allegations, they filed a motion quoting from part of the woman's deposition where she acknowledges to never actually seeing a camera or camera phone. She was blindfolded, she has said, and Greitens' lawyers have sought to challenge what she actually witnessed.
Some local outlets ran with quotes from the motion, leading with the woman's admission that she thought she saw a phone that day, but couldn't be sure. "I don't know if I'm remembering it through a dream," she said — which then became a headline on Fox-2. And, after that, became a sponsored post on social media by "Team Greitens."
"In an effort to preserve her privacy and the privacy of her children, my client has refused to comment on this case and her silence has allowed a number of false and misleading claims to go unanswered," the statement reads. "However, the most recent attack on my client's credibility cannot be ignored; it is time to set the record straight."
The woman said she would support a motion to release her complete deposition, so long as her name and other identifying information is redacted. "Gov. Greitens needs to take responsibility for his actions and be honest about the fact that he took my client's photograph without her consent," says the statement, written by attorney Scott Simpson.
"My client has taken responsibility for her actions, and it is time Gov. Greitens takes responsibility for his," the statement concludes.
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