JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens initiated a physically aggressive unwanted sexual encounter with his hairdresser and threatened to distribute a partially nude photo of her if she spoke about it, according to testimony from the woman released Wednesday by a House investigatory committee.

The graphic report details multiple instances in which the woman said Greitens spanked, slapped, grabbed, shoved and called her derogatory names during a series of sexual encounters as he was preparing to run for office in 2015. The testimony contradicts Greitens’ previous assertions that “there was no violence” and “no threat of violence” in what he has described as a consensual extramarital affair.

The report, signed by all five Republicans and two Democrats on the committee, describes the woman’s testimony as credible and notes that Greitens has so far declined to testify or provide documents to the panel. It also outlines instances where the Republican governor’s public comments appear to run counter to some of her allegations.

The special House investigation was initiated shortly after Greitens was indicted in February on a felony invasion-of-privacy charge for taking a nonconsensual photo of the partially nude woman and transmitting it in a way that could be accessed by a computer. The woman told the committee that Greitens took the photo after manipulating her into a compromising position during an unwanted sexual encounter and that he told her “everyone will know what a little whore you are” if she told anyone about him.

Greitens, 44, has refused to directly answer media questions about whether he took the photo but he has steadfastly denied any criminal wrongdoing. He said he expects to be proven innocent during this trial, which is scheduled for May 14.

Speaking shortly before the report was released, Greitens told reporters gathered at the Capitol that he expected it to contain “lies and falsehoods” and reaffirmed his commitment to remaining in office.

“This is a political witch hunt,” Greitens said, later adding: “This is exactly like what’s happening with the witch hunts in Washington, D.C.”

The legislative report could serve as a basis for the Republican-led House to initiate impeachment proceedings to try to remove Greitens from office, though it makes no recommendation about what lawmakers should do. Impeachment can occur independently of a criminal case.

Democratic House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty said: “For the good of the state, Eric Greitens must immediately resign” or else the House must “restore integrity” to the office. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh also called for the House to impeach Greitens if he doesn’t quit.

According to the report, the woman testified that she met Greitens in 2013 as a customer of her hair salon. She said she had a crush on Greitens but was shocked when he ran his hand up her leg and touched her crotch without her consent during a March 2015 hair appointment. He later invited her to his St. Louis home while his wife was out of town.

After she arrived through the back door, the report said that the woman testified Greitens searched her purse and “patted her down from head-to-toe.” He then asked if she had exercised and had her change into a white T-shirt with a slit on the top and pajama pants.

“I thought, oh, this is going to be some sort of sexy workout,” the woman testified.

But once in his basement, Greitens taped her hands to pull-up rings, blindfolded her, started kissing her, ripped open the shirt and pulled down her pants, the woman testified. She didn’t give consent to be disrobed or kissed, the report said. The woman testified that she then heard a click, like of a cellphone picture, and saw a flash.

The woman testified that Greitens told her: “Don’t even mention my name to anybody at all, because if you do, I’m going to take these pictures, and I’m going to put them everywhere I can. They are going to be everywhere, and then everyone will know what a little whore you are.”

When she remained silent, the woman said Greitens “spanked me and said, ‘Are you going to mention my name?’ And I said, I just gritted through my teeth, and I said, ‘No.’ And he’s like, ‘Good, now that’s a good girl.'”

“I was definitely fearful,” the woman testified to the legislative committee.

After telling Greitens, “I don’t want this,” the woman testified that Greitens unbound her hands. She said she started “uncontrollably crying.” She said Greitens then grabbed her in a hug and laid her down. She said he put his penis near her face and she gave him oral sex. Asked by the committee whether the oral sex was coerced, she responded: “Coerced, maybe. I felt as though that would allow me to leave.”

The woman testified she returned to Greitens’ house later that day because she had forgotten her keys. She said she confronted him about taking a photo and he responded: “You have to understand, I’m running for office, and people will get me, and I have to have some sort of thing to protect myself.” Then she said Greitens added: “I felt bad, so I erased it.”

The House committee report said it doesn’t possess any physical or electronic evidence of the photo.

The woman testified that she had several additional sexual encounters with Greitens, including one in June 2015 when “he slapped me across my face” after she acknowledged having slept with her husband. She said she didn’t think Greitens was trying to hurt her, but rather “I felt like he was trying to claim me.”

In another subsequent sexual encounter, the woman testified that Greitens “out of nowhere just, like kind of smacked me and grabbed me and shoved me down on the ground, and I instantly just started bawling.”

It “actually hurt, and I know that I actually was really scared and sad when that happened,” she testified.

The woman’s account contradicts statements Greitens made previously. Asked in a January interview with The Associated Press if he had ever slapped the woman, Greitens responded: “Absolutely not.”

Greitens, a Rhodes Scholar and former Navy SEAL officer, was considered a rising GOP star. He went so far as to reserve the web address ericgreitensforpresident.com years ago.

Greitens first acknowledged having an extramarital affair on Jan. 10, when St. Louis TV station KMOV ran a story revealing that the woman’s ex-husband had released a secret audio recording of a 2015 conversation in which she told him about the photo Greitens took at his home.

Greitens’ attorneys have asserted that prosecutors have failed to produce evidence that a photo exists. Prosecutors previously acknowledged that they don’t have the photo, though they could be trying to obtain it.

On Wednesday, Greitens referenced a recent court filing by his defense attorneys stating that the woman had testified in the criminal case that she’s unsure whether her belief that Greitens had a phone came from a dream.

Greitens’ attorneys had tried to persuade the Legislature to delay its report until after his criminal trial, arguing that it could include some information that isn’t fully accurate and could taint the jury pool.

On Wednesday, Greitens criticized the House report as “one-sided tabloid, trash gossip that was produced in a secret room.”

In addition to the legislative investigation and the criminal case, Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley is investigating The Mission Continues, the veterans charity founded by Greitens, as it relates to the state’s consumer protection and charitable registration and reporting laws. That probe came after media reports that Greitens’ campaign had obtained and used a charity donor list in 2015 as it ramped up fundraising for his gubernatorial bid.

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The political future of Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens faces a big test Wednesday when a special legislative committee issues an investigative report related to an extramarital affair the Republican engaged in before his election.

Greitens scheduled a news conference late in the day, about an hour before the report was set to be released.

The report — along with the governor’s upcoming trial on a felony indictment related to the affair and an investigation by fellow Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley into the activities of a veterans charity Greitens founded — have created challenges and uncertainty for the former Navy SEAL officer, who was once considered presidential material. He went so far as to reserve the web address ericgreitensforpresident.com years ago.

Greitens’ spokesman, Parker Briden, told The Associated Press by email that the governor’s administration has been “operating as normal.”

But Republican consultant John Hancock said the “constant retelling of the underlying facts of the affair has had a debilitating effect on the governor, as it would any elected official.”

The allegations are to be publicly aired again, perhaps with their greatest detail yet, when a special House investigatory committee releases a report Wednesday evening.

It was just hours after his State of the State speech in January that Greitens released a statement admitting to an affair that began and ended in 2015. The statement came after the ex-husband of Greitens’ former hairdresser released to a St. Louis TV station audio that he secretly recorded of the woman discussing the affair with him.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner launched an investigation over an allegation that Greitens tried to blackmail the woman into silence by threatening to release a photo he allegedly took of her without her consent while she was blindfolded and partially nude in the basement of Gretiens’ St. Louis home.

A grand jury in February indicted Greitens on one felony count of invasion of privacy for allegedly taking and transmitting the photo. The case goes to trial May 14.

Scott Simpson, an attorney for the woman, said this week that Greitens has told his client on multiple occasions that he photographed her without her consent and threatened to release the image if she told anyone about their relationship.

Greitens’ supporters have called the criminal case a political witch hunt.

In March, a special House legislative committee launched its own investigation, a potential precursor to impeachment proceedings. Greitens’ lawyers have repeatedly asked to delay the report, publicizing a series of critical letters and court documents to reporters as the expected release date approached in an effort to portray it as inaccurate and potentially damaging to the governor’s right to a fair trial.

Separately, Hawley is investigating The Mission Continues, the veterans charity founded by Greitens, as it relates to the state’s consumer protection and charitable registration and reporting laws. That probe came after media reports that Greitens’ campaign obtained and used the charity’s donor list in 2015 as he began raising money for his gubernatorial bid.

With so much swirling around Greitens personally, Republican legislative leaders have issued assurances that they will continue with business as usual despite potential turmoil in the governor’s office.

“No matter how things go, we’ll have a very good steady leadership in both chambers,” Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe said last week.

While Briden said the governor continues to work with lawmakers to pass his agenda, Greitens has played a less antagonistic role in the Legislature this year.

During his first year in office, Greitens issued personal attacks against state senators who went against his will on policy, called the Legislature back for two special sessions, angered senators for his role in stacking numerous boards and commissions with his appointees and, at one point, compared lawmakers to third-graders.

Greitens’ swaggering public persona has changed since the scandal broke, University of Missouri-St. Louis political scientist Dave Robertson said.

“The aggressiveness has been tempered substantially and he’s gone from playing offense to playing defense,” Robertson said.

Still, Robertson said the already chilly relationship between Greitens and many of his Republican colleagues could haunt the governor.

“I would say that the obvious inability in the current climate, which is so highly polarized, to keep members of your party rallying behind you, particularly in the Legislature, is a very bad sign for someone who wants to govern effectively, create a record, and perhaps move on to another office,” he said.

LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri woman faces a felony charge for her role in a car wreck that killed her daughter and injured eight of her children and grandchildren last year.

The Kansas City Star reports that 58-year-old Pamela Byrd was charged with second-degree involuntary manslaughter Tuesday for running a stop sign that led to the September crash in Lee’s Summit. Byrd’s daughter, Tracy Pycior, was killed in the collision.

Court records show Byrd was driving a van with 11 passengers when she ran the stop sign. A truck struck Byrd’s van, injuring three of her children and five of her grandchildren.

Byrd’s daughter, Nikki Robbins, says her mother is innocent. She says Byrd has been diagnosed with cancer, which may have affected her vision at the time.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that aims to add and strengthen work requirements for public assistance and other welfare programs.

The order, signed in private, promotes “common-sense reforms” that policy adviser Andrew Bremberg said would reduce dependence on government programs.

“Part of President Trump’s effort to create a booming American economy includes moving Americans from welfare to work and supporting and encouraging others to support common-sense reforms that restore American prosperity and help them reclaim their independence,” he said.

The order focuses on looking for ways to strengthen existing work requirements and exploring new requirements for benefits such as food stamps, cash and housing assistance programs.

Trump has long accused beneficiaries of abusing government assistance programs and has claimed many who have no intention of working make more in benefits than those with jobs.

“I know people that work three jobs and they live next to somebody who doesn’t work at all. And the person who is not working at all and has no intention of working at all is making more money and doing better than the person that’s working his and her ass off,” Trump said in November. During the campaign, he pledged that, under a Trump administration, families “trapped in welfare” would be “provided with jobs and opportunity.”

Most people who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, who are able to hold jobs do work, but they don’t earn enough to pay for food and cover other expenses. According to 2015 data from the Department of Agriculture, 44 percent of the total households using the SNAP program had someone in the family earning money.

The administration has made several moves pushing work for Medicaid recipients and those who use the SNAP program.

In January, officials announced that states would be able to impose work requirements for Medicaid. And they’ve proposed tightening the existing requirement that able-bodied adults who want to receive SNAP benefits for more than three months at a time must work in some capacity.

The proposal would raise the age limit for recipients who are exempt from the requirement and restrict the ability of states to offer waivers. The Department of Agriculture has been soliciting public comment on the issue.

The administration has also been exploring more stringent work requirements for those who receive assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, as well as minimum weekly work hours for those who receive housing assistance.

The order gives various Cabinet secretaries 90 days to review the programs their agencies offer, and recommend possible changes.

Advocates argue that, while encouraging people to work is fundamentally a good thing, imposing strict requirements on already vulnerable populations, particularly when coupled with an aggressive effort to slash funding and shrink public assistance programs, could be disastrous for those in need.

Such requirements could have dire consequences for those already experiencing barriers to finding, and keeping, a job, including single mothers who can’t afford child care, people who lack access to transportation and those who suffer from mental illness.

Rebecca Vallas, vice president of the Poverty to Prosperity Program at the Center for American Progress, said Trump’s executive order served to reinforce myths about poverty in the U.S.

“By using dog-whistle terms like ‘welfare,’ Trump’s trying to paint people who turn to Medicaid, SNAP, and other public programs as Reagan’s mythical ‘welfare queen’ — so we don’t notice that he’s coming after the entire working and middle class,” Vallas tweeted.

The White House had once identified overhauling the welfare system as one of its top two legislative priorities for 2018, along with a major investment in infrastructure. But GOP leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, told the president there was little chance of passing anything that needs Democrats’ votes.

Trump appeared to agree as he huddled with GOP leaders at the Camp David presidential retreat in January.

“It’s a subject that’s very dear to our heart,” Trump said then. “We’ll try and do something in a bipartisan way. Otherwise, we’ll be holding it for a little bit later.”

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is seeking to put the brakes on out-of-state gubernatorial candidates after 10 people living outside its borders took the initial steps to run.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Tuesday that he’s filed a lawsuit as part of an effort to keep non-residents out of the race. He said in a statement that it appears lawmakers always intended candidates for Kansas governor to reside in the state. He says he’s asking the court to interpret Kansas law, which currently says nothing about candidates’ age or residency.

News coverage about the lack of requirements has led to a slew of teenagers and non-Kansans forming campaign committees for a gubernatorial run. A man even tried, and failed, to get his dog on the ballot.

 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The political future of Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens faces a big test when a special legislative committee issues its investigative report related to an extramarital affair the Republican had.

Greitens also faces a pending criminal trial on a felony indictment in St. Louis for allegedly taking a compromising photo of the woman without her permission and an investigation by the state’s attorney general into the activities of a veterans charity he founded.

The investigations have created governing challenges and uncertainty for the former Navy SEAL officer once considered presidential material.

A Greitens spokesman says the administration is “operating as normal.” But Republican political consultant John Hancock says the scandal has had a debilitating effect on Greitens.

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A judge has issued a partial gag order for attorneys and witnesses in the criminal case against Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison issued the order Tuesday in response to a request from Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. Gardner expressed concern that Greitens’ attorneys were trying the case in the media.

The Republican governor is charged with invasion of privacy for allegedly taking a compromising photo without the consent of a woman he was having an affair with in 2015, before he was elected.

Burlison’s order does not prohibit attorneys from speaking about public information in the case, but prohibits comments related to deposition material, opinions about what witnesses might testify to and other speculative issues. The ruling also will require the judge to sign off on certain court filings before they’re made public.

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ST. LOUIS (AP) – The attorney for a woman who had an affair with Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens is accusing his attorneys of a “smear campaign.”

Attorney Scott Simpson said in a phone interview Tuesday that the Greitens team wants to discredit the woman before she testifies at his criminal trial next month.

Greitens is charged with invasion of privacy for allegedly taking a compromising photo without the woman’s consent in 2015, before he was elected.

Defense attorneys said in a court filing Sunday that the woman, in a deposition, wasn’t sure whether she saw Greitens holding a phone during the encounter. But Simpson says Greitens told her he had a photo, and he threatened to distribute it if she spoke of the affair.

Simpson wants the full transcript of the woman’s deposition released.

KANSAS CITY – A Kansas City man pleaded guilty Tuesday to robbing a bank in Bonner Springs, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Timothy Karpovich, 39, Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery. An affidavit filed in the case alleged that Karpovich robbed the KCB Bank at 13010 Commercial in Bonner Springs. He gave the teller a handwritten note and kept his right hand in his pocket as if he had a gun. He fled the bank on foot.

Police received a tip that the robber gambled regularly at Harrah’s Casino in North Kansas City, Mo. Casino employees identified Karpovich from a bank surveillance photo. He was arrested without incident at the casino.

Sentencing is set for July 2. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico State University has named five finalists for its next chancellor.

The NMSU Board of Regents voted this week to approve a short list of candidates to lead the southern New Mexico college amid declining state funding.  Kansas State University College of Agriculture Dean John Floros is listed as a finalist.

Barbara Damron is also listed as a finalist. She will leave her post as secretary of higher education when Gov. Susana Martinez leaves office at the end of the year.

The other finalists are Missouri University of Science and Technology Provost Robert Marley; former president of Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada, Brian Stevenson; and U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory former president Dan Arvizu.