Heat Increasing on Governor Greitens: Will He Resign?

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens remains defiant, even as the pressure to resign amid mounting public outrage over his alleged sexual aggression continues. Greitens is accused of spanking, grabbing, slapping and shoving a woman during an affair back in 2015. Greitens says the relationship was consensual, and that the accusations of violence are false.

This testimony was offered as part of an indictment in which Greitens is accused of invading the privacy of the woman by taking photos of the woman while she was blindfolded and nude, then transmitting those photos over the internet without her knowledge or permission.

Now, a committee is investigating all the additional allegations, intent on determining if it should force Greitens out before he resigns. Meanwhile, the headlines reflect a soap opera case in the courtroom involving video cameras, allegations of perjury, and of a he said-she said saga that seems made for daytime TV: a powerful man, his mistress, and the secret they hoped would never get out.

But, unlike the scripted daily dramas, this case is very, very real, and it will have serious consequences for Greitens, who has made no secret of his ambitions beyond the Missouri governorship. His defense teams hope to convince the court and investigators, as well as the public, that “the woman is not a victim… she was a willing participant in everything they did…”

Even if that’s the case, the other aspect of the case, the one that first grabbed headlines, isn’t going away. And Greitens is still hoping to outlast headlines linking him to what some are calling revenge porn.

So far, St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison seems content to let the case play out. He has, at least to this point, made no move to dismiss the case, as the defense has repeatedly requested.

Meanwhile, at the Capitol building, other elected officials are reaching the end of their patience with Greitens and the negative headlines. Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe says Greitens should have already resigned, and that his delay is torpedoing his political career, at least in Missouri: “Should the governor choose not to resign, I am persuaded that he has not only burned bridges, he has blown them up to where it will be impossible for him to effectively lead the state going forward…”

Greitens remains defiant, insisting he is innocent, and that the allegations against him are nothing but “lies and falsehoods,” referring to the case as “a political witch hunt.”

Ronn Torossian is one of America’s foremost Public Relations executives as founder/CEO of 5WPR, a leading independent public relations Agency. The firm was honored as PR Firm of the Year by The American Business Awards, and has been named to the Inc. 500 List. Torossian is author of the best-selling "For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results with Game-Changing Public Relations." For more of Ronn Torossian's reports, Go Here Now.