Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens testifies on abuse allegations behind closed doors

Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and his ex-wife Sheena Greitens testified behind closed doors for more than seven hours Wednesday in their ongoing child custody dispute in which Sheena Greitens has accused the former governor of physical and emotional abuse.

Attorneys for both parties were allowed to question Eric and Sheena Greitens under oath during the closed-door deposition in Columbia. A deposition hearing, which is not open to the public, was held instead of a public trial due to concerns about publicity for the former couple’s two young children.

The hearing took place less than two weeks before Missouri’s primary election as Greitens vies for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. The abuse allegations against Greitens will likely be a dominant focus of the race through November if he prevails in the crowded GOP primary and could threaten to cost Republicans a safe Senate seat.

Wednesday’s deposition was the first time Eric Greitens, who stepped down as governor in 2018 following claims that he had blackmailed a woman to keep her quiet about an extramarital affair, answers questions under oath since his ex-wife’s abuse allegations were made public in March.

Associate Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider presided over the hearing and will ultimately decide whether to move the case to Texas, where Sheena Greitens lives and works as a professor at the University of Texas-Austin.

After the hearing, Eric Greitens and his lawyer Gary Stamper were escorted out of the Boone County Courthouse by a marshal. Stamper told reporters that Schneider had ordered all parties not to discuss the deposition hearing publicly. Greitens did not answer questions from reporters.

Asked whether Schneider had decided whether to move the case to Texas, Stamper said no.

Minutes later, Sheena Greitens and her lawyer Helen Wade were also escorted out by a marshal. Wade also declined to answer questions from reporters.

Wade previously told The Star that she planned to ask the former governor about allegations that he abused Sheena Greitens and their young children in 2018. His sworn testimony, if it becomes public, could expose damaging information about the U.S. Senate candidate just weeks before the Republican primary on Aug. 2.

“Quite frankly, (Sheena Greitens) can’t keep coming up here to do this,” Wade told Schneider on Friday before the deposition was scheduled. “I understand that Mr. Greitens does not want to give a deposition prior to the primary. I understand that. But we want this case to be over with.”

Stamper previously told The Star that the attorneys will likely file a transcript of the deposition hearing with the court. It’s unclear whether that transcript will become public.

The child custody case has received intense scrutiny since March after the former Missouri first lady filed an affidavit accusing her ex-husband of physical and emotional abuse against her and their children.

Eric Greitens, through Stamper and in his campaign, has painted the abuse allegations as a broader political conspiracy orchestrated by establishment Republicans.

Copies of Sheena Greitens’ communications shared with The Star rebut the former governor’s claims and show that she made the same allegations to a therapist and a lawyer in 2018.

In the communications and her sworn statement, Sheena Greitens references several times where her ex-husband was physically and emotionally abusive to her and their children. They include a time where the former governor allegedly hit one of his sons in the face while he was sitting in his booster seat. In another incident, Sheena Greitens said her son told her that the former governor grabbed him by the hair. She also wrote that her ex-husband pushed and knocked her over and took away her phone.

The former governor has not filed any sworn statements in the case, but has used social media and campaign emails to cast his ex-wife as a liar.

Greitens’ campaign tactics made their way into the child custody dispute last month in the aftermath of a campaign video that showed Eric Greitens hunting his perceived political enemies. Wade said Sheena Greitens received threats after the video’s release.