Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) resisted calls for Gov. Eric Greitens (R-MO) to resign Sunday in an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Earlier this month, a Missouri House committee released a report detailing allegations of sexual assault against Greitens. In the report, the committee said they believe the woman who made the allegations is credible.
None of that however is sufficient reason for Greitens to step aside, according to Blunt.
“I think we have to let the situation play out,” the Missouri senator said. “Obviously what the governor’s accused of is very concerning, but there is both a legal process and a legislative process designed to deal with that, and I have confidence [in] both of those.”
Greitens has called the investigation a “political witch hunt” and is refusing to step down as governor or as a candidate for reelection. But he has lost the confidence of many in his own party. A number of Republicans — including Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, the likely Republican nominee for Senate — have called for Greitens to resign.
Pressed by Meet the Press’s moderator Chuck Todd, Blunt said it was up to the residents of Missouri to determine the governor’s fate.
“Voters voted for him,” Blunt said. “There are two ways to deal with this issue. One is the legal process, the other is the legislative process. There’s no reason not to have confidence in both of those.”
He added, “I think when you reach conclusions without allowing people to be fully heard, that’s not a good thing.”
Blunt concluded by saying he thinks there are more “appropriate ways” to move forward than “a bunch of politicians saying what ought to happen.”
The woman, who testified about her encounters with the governor under oath, has said the governor invited her to his home in 2015 while his wife was away, tied her up in the basement, and ripped open her clothes, all without her consent.
She said that Greitens then blindfolded and took photos of her, called her “a little whore,” and threatened to make the photos public if she ever spoke about the incident. When she tried to escape, she said Greitens attacked her and forced his penis into her mouth.
She also said that she had a number of other encounters with the governor, some consensual and some not, and that Greitens hit her on three occasions. Last month, Greitens was indicted and arrested — and later released — for taking the photo of the woman without her consent.