Missouri Senate candidate Eric Greitens announces subpoena over abuse allegations

An attorney for Missouri Republican primary candidate for US Senate Eric Greitens said Thursday he filed four subpoenas to obtain phone records to determine whether Greitens’ ex-wife had contacts with any political operatives prior to making abuse allegations earlier this month.

"Political operatives should not be weaponizing our court system to try and gain political points through putting out false information," Greitens' attorney Timothy Parlatore told Just the News. 

Parlatore said among those he will be seeking records from is conservative political consultant Karl Rove to see what contacts he had with Sheena Greitens.

The candidate's ex-wife Sheena Greitens filed an affidavit in their child custody case last week to change the custody management from Missouri to her new home state of Texas.

Sheena Greitens claimed in that affidavit that the former Missouri governor abused her and their children when they were still married in 2018, an allegation he denies.

The ex-wife signed an earlier affidavit in 2020 in support of joint custody that said there was no "genuine issue of material fact" in the case. She had lost two recent court rulings in the matter on procedural grounds.

"It defies common sense [to] think that she had this stuff, and she decided, 'You know what, I'm gonna save my best material. Because two years from now, I'm going to file a procedural motion to transfer jurisdiction. And that's what I'm going to use it all,'" Parlatore said.

"It makes no sense. The reality is, she's never made any of these allegations before," the attorney noted. "And it wasn't until after she started talking with Karl Rove that all of a sudden, this comes out at a critical time during the primary."

Breitbart News reported last week that Rove had warned some donors that Sheena Greitens was going to make allegations against her ex-husband prior to the complaint being filed. 

Rove did not dispute contact with Sheena Greitens or political donors in a statement to Just the News, though he contested an allegation from one donor adviser that he offered to broker a meeting between the adviser and the ex-wife.

Sheena Greitens issued a statement saying she did not talk to anyone about her new affidavit except for her lawyers and family.

Sheena Greitens and her lawyer did not return calls Tuesday seeking comment.

While the Missouri primary is scheduled for Aug. 9, 2022, a Trafalgar Group poll from earlier this month shows Greitens ahead of all other GOP candidates with 30.5% of the vote with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt in second at 23%.

However, a new poll by Remington Research Group after the allegations surfaced show that Greitens has sunk to second at 21% with Schmitt ahead at 24%, The Washington Examiner reported.

Parlatore said subpoenas should be served later this week to obtain phone records from Rove, Sheena Greitens, her sister Catherine Linkul, and former Eric Greitens campaign manager Austin Chambers. Linkul works for Phil Cox, a close ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom Eric Greitens has called to be removed from Senate GOP leadership.

Greitens is "absolutely" going to continue on in the Senate race, his attorney said.

"They want him dragged down into an ugly custody fight, because ultimately, the goal of this thing was to force him to end his campaign," Parlatore said.

Ultimately, Eric Greitens wants to share joint custody of the children with his ex-wife, Parlatore said.