ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) – In a brief and subdued speech to hundreds of St. Louis area police officers, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens praised law enforcement while making no reference to his own legal problems.

Greitens spoke Wednesday at an annual breakfast of the St. Louis Area Police Chiefs Association. He told the officers that a strong majority of Missourians support police even in a time of controversies.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the governor made no mention of the two criminal indictments he faces or growing calls that he should resign. Reporters were kept at the back of the room and told they could not ask questions about the controversies.

Association officials said they asked Greitens to be keynote speaker because he has been a strong supporter of law enforcement.

———-

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Despite facing two felony charges, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens will be the keynote speaker at a St. Louis Area Police Chiefs Association prayer breakfast.

Wentzville Police Chief Kurt Frisz, chairman of the association, confirmed that Greitens will be speak at the Wednesday’s breakfast, which is dedicated to memorializing fallen police officers and honoring their families.

Frisz said Greitens has been a strong supporter of law enforcement and is a good choice to honor officers.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the spokesman for St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch asked St. Louis-area police chiefs in an email if they really wanted a person charged with a felony as their guest speaker.

Greitens faces charges of felony invasion of privacy and computer tampering. He has denied criminal wrongdoing in both cases

 

———–

An attorney for the ex-husband of a woman who had an extramarital affair with Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens has been issued a subpoena by a legislative committee concerning $100,000 in anonymous payments to the attorney’s firm.

Attorney Al Watkins on Tuesday confirmed he’s received a subpoena. He expects to meet with the committee in early May. Watkins says he’ll be “as cooperative as possible.”

Greitens is accused of two felonies in St. Louis. One accuses him of taking an unauthorized and compromising photo of the woman in 2015, before he was elected. Another accuses him of illegally obtaining a donor list from a veterans charity he founded for use in his gubernatorial campaign.

Watkins disclosed Monday that a courier delivered two $50,000 payments to his office in January, just before the governor admitted to the affair. Watkins says he was contacted by an intermediary and deduced from the conversation that the money was for the ex-husband’s legal bills.

————

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A judge is expected to consider a request to disqualify St. Louis prosecutors from one of the two felony cases against Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.

A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in the computer data tampering case against Greitens. In that case, Greitens is accused of obtaining a charity donor list for his gubernatorial campaign without permission.

Greitens also faces a felony invasion-of-privacy charge for allegedly taking an unauthorized and compromising photo of a woman with whom he had an affair in 2015, before he was elected.

Defense lawyers asked Judge Rex Burlison to require a special prosecutor in the computer tampering case, citing the use of a private investigator in the earlier case. They say prosecutors knew William Tisaby lied under oath.