Again?

It appears that Eric Greitens, whose blackmail and rape of a lobbyist his hairdresser led to his resignation as Governor of Missouri, now has credible allegations of spousal and family abuse lodged against him by his ex-wife. (Of course, he is a Republican)

Given that he is the leading candiidate in the Republican primary to replace retiring Senator Roy blunt, (Did I mention that he was a Republican?) this gives the distinct possibility that the primary will be brutal, and the general much closer than it should be, particularly since his wife says that, he admitted to her that he took the blackmail pictures at the core of his blackmail and rape allegations.

Yes Virginia, he's a Republican,. so he is at this time still leading the primary race. 

The former wife of Eric Greitens, a leading Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Missouri, has accused him of physically abusing her and one of their sons in a sworn affidavit that could have serious implications in the race for the seat of Senator Roy Blunt, who is retiring.

Mr. Greitens, whose campaign denied the allegations on Monday, abruptly resigned as governor in 2018 amid a swirling scandal that involved a sexual relationship with his former hairdresser and allegations that he had taken an explicit photograph of her without her permission. He was also accused by prosecutors of misusing his charity’s donor list for political purposes.

But until the latest revelation, his attempt at a political comeback had appeared improbably successful, despite efforts by Missouri’s Republican establishment to block it. Mr. Greitens, 47, a former Navy SEAL, had aligned squarely with former President Donald J. Trump, cheered on anti-vaccine and anti-mask protesters, and surged to the lead in a crowded Republican primary race for a key open Senate seat.

He now faces fresh calls from his opponents to drop out, lest he turn a reliably red seat competitive in November.

………

Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, who as the state’s attorney general in 2018 pressed Mr. Greitens to resign as governor, wrote on Twitter, “If you hit a woman or a child, you belong in handcuffs, not the United States Senate.”

Let me state the obvious here, if Josh F%$#ing Hawley is on the side of the angels, something is very, VERY wrong.

………

Part of a continuing child custody dispute, the sworn affidavit from Sheena Chestnut Greitens, 39, a professor of public policy at the University of Texas at Austin, accused Mr. Greitens of physical abuse and “unstable and coercive behavior.” The 41-page affidavit, filed on Monday in Boone County Circuit Court in Missouri, said that Mr. Greitens had become increasingly violent in 2018 as his sex scandal threatened to end a once-promising political rise that he hoped would take him to the White House.

“Prior to our divorce, during an argument in late April 2018, Eric knocked me down and confiscated my cellphone, wallet and keys so that I was unable to call for help or extricate myself and our children from our home,” wrote Dr. Greitens, who has two young sons with Mr. Greitens and whose divorce from him became final in May 2020.

She added that his “behavior included physical violence toward our children, such as cuffing our then-3-year-old son across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by his hair.”

As to the rape and blackmail admission:

Republican Senate candidate Eric Greitens privately admitted to taking the "revenge porn" photo that led to his indictment on invasion of privacy charges and his resignation as Missouri's governor in 2018, his ex-wife said in a new court filing.

In a signed affidavit made public on Monday, Sheena Greitens accused her ex-husband of violent and abusive behavior amid an ongoing child custody dispute between the former couple. Eric issued a blanket denial of Sheena's allegations in a statement on Monday and his campaign called Sheena "deranged." 

The affadavit, which contains graphic descriptions of Eric's alleged behavior, also contains another notable allegation: despite repeatedly denying that he took a compromising nude photo of a hairdresser with whom he had an extramarital affair in 2015 and threatened to blackmail her, Eric privately owned up to taking the photo early last year. Sheena said Eric warned her not to reveal his admission to anyone.

"After Eric admitted to me in late January 2021 that he had taken the photo that resulted in the invasion of privacy charge, he threatened that I would be exposed to legal jeopardy if I ever disclosed that fact to anyone, even family members or a therapist," she wrote.

Lovely fellow, and an exemplar of good Republican family values.