Troubled bigtime? Rauner says Missouri gov should quit over sex allegations

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SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Bruce Rauner agrees that Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens should resign.

Rauner said Thursday he is “deeply troubled” by a Missouri House committee’s report of an allegation that Greitens coerced a woman into sex. He agrees with calls in Missouri that his fellow Republican resign in “the best interest” of the state.

The report Wednesday included a woman’s claim that Greitens slapped and threatened her during sexual encounters in 2015. Greitens insists that the relationship was consensual and rejects allegations of violence but he has been indicted for invasion of privacy for allegedly blackmailing a woman with a photograph of her.

Greitens appeared in a Rauner re-election campaign ad last year.

The ad featured Greitens and two other GOP Midwestern governors sarcastically thanking Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan for driving jobs to their neighboring states by raising taxes and resisting Rauner’s reforms.

“Big fans here in Missouri,” Greitens says in the ad. “Bigtime. Thank you, Mike.”

The ad was pulled in January after Greitens acknowledged he had been “unfaithful” in his marriage.