JEFFERSON CITY – Another scathing report on Governor Eric Greitens was released Wednesday by a special House committee investigating Missouri’s chief of executive. This second report alleges Greitens illegally obtained a donor list from The Mission Continues, a charity founded by the governor, for his gubernatorial campaign.
The allegations and charges continue to pile up against the governor. He’s already facing two felony charges in St. Louis. This report from the House committee appears to put him in an even worse position.
According to the report, the governor admitted his campaign used the charity to contact donors.
In April 2017, Greitens signed an amended campaign report that revealed the donors list was given to his campaign as in-kind donation from former campaign worker Danny Laub.
The governor signed a statement that said, “I certify that this report is true and accurate.”
However, Laub testified that Greitens’ amended campaign finance report was false and that he did not contribute the list to the campaign. Instead, it was contributed by Greitens himself. Laub said Greitens’ amended campaign report made him sick.
We have assembled a streamlined set of statements/notes from the report, which you can read below, as well as the entire report.
Page 1, Laub refused to testify to the committee, but was deposed by the Attorney General’s Office:
On March 28, 2018, counsel for Danny Laub, a former campaign worker for Greitens, informed Chairman Barnes via email that Laub refused to appear before the Committee. However, Laub testified under oath via deposition taken by the Attorney General’s Office in Washington D.C. on April 18, 2018.
Page 3, Greitens signed a 2012 non-disclosure agreement to protect the 501c3 status of the Mission Continues. That NDA includes donors.
12. In the TMC NDA dated November 27, 2012, Greitens agreed to hold in strict confidence “the identities of any donors or investors, and any personal information of donors or investors, and any contact information for donors or investors,” as well as any “lists, databases … trade or business secrets, … and similar or dissimilar information relating to the operations or activities of TMC.”
Page 3, Donors Gravitated Toward Greiten’s Image and the Charity
17. Former TMC CFO Neyens testified that Greitens “grew the organization from zero[,]”24 and explained why and how he believed Greitens was able to grow TMC. “[P]eople, donors, corporations, individuals, foundations migrate. They were attracted to him. They migrated to him as he spoke around the country[.]”25 Further, Neyens agreed with the statement that Greitens “was a very strategic person” who “liked to have things planned out,” testifying, “He planned things out. … He didn’t go into – you know, I guess it’s kind of like going into battle. You just don’t randomly run in there. He had a plan of building his business – building his organization.”
Page 7, Danny Laub Begins Advising Greitens in 2014
25. Danny Laub began advising Greitens on political activity in early 2014. Laub testified he prepared a memo for Greitens in February 2014 regarding gubernatorial campaign strategy.
Page 8, Hafner Begins Advising Greitens in 2014.
28. Michael Hafner also began advising Greitens on political activity in early 2014.45 Emails reveal a meeting with potential supporters and donors as early as March 18, 2014.
Page 13, Greitens Officially Hires Laub For Political Activity
50. On December 1, 2014, Laub was hired by Greitens. Laub testified that, at this time, there was “definitely a future gubernatorial campaign” and Laub’s role included “political planning,” meaning “everything from…surveying the landscape, figuring out who Eric should meet with, figuring out how to achieve at this point … how to achieve success.”81 At the time, however, Laub was paid by Eric Greitens, LLC.82 Also on December 1, 2014, Proctor emailed Laub a document from Greitens titled “Candidate’s Intent.”83 It provided detailed campaign plans, including fundraising plans to achieve $8 million in commitments; messaging plans that sought answers to the questions “Why I’m Running” and “Why I’m a Republican.”
Page 14, Proctor (Greitens’ Assistant) Sends the Donor List To Laub and Hafner On Jan. 6., 2015.
54. On January 6, 2015 at 1:57 p.m., the following invitation was sent to Hafner, Proctor, and Laub for a campaign “Finance Meeting” for 10 a.m. the next morning.
Page 14, The contents of the list
he TMC list contained the names, phone numbers, email addresses, donations, and other details of every individual, company, or non-profit that had donated $1,000 or more to TMC.
Page 16, The Mission Continues President Testifies That The List Isn’t Exactly Solely Eric’s Property. Other people put work into cultivating those donors
63. TMC’s President Spencer Kympton explained that the list contained more than just Greitens’ friends, family, and supporters. When asked, “A previous witness testified that Mr. Greitens thought – essentially thought of this list as his own, that the list was comprised of his friends, his contacts that he had built up. … Do you believe that to be true?,” Kympton responded: I would not characterize this list that way. This list is a list of 500 – more than 500 donors, supporters, partners of The Mission Continues who had given collectively or over time $1,000 or above to The Mission Continues. Within this list might be, you know, friends or family of Eric Greitens that have transitioned into being supporters of The Mission Continues, but as context, I have friends and family who are on this list; other staff members from The Mission Continues have family on this list. There are individuals on this list who came into The Mission Continues relationship via events that we ran, and they might have been invited by host committee members to those events. There are individuals on this list who came into a relationship with The Mission Continues by the company that was supporting The Mission Continues. So I think that there certainly are individuals on this list who might have been a friend or family member of The Mission Continues, but I would very much characterize this list as a list of supporters and partners of The Mission Continues that came from a variety of different pathways to that relationship.101
Page 16, Greitens Suggested That Hafner Visit With A Development Official From The Mission Continues
68. Hafner testified that on January 19, 2015, Greitens instructed him to meet with Reichardt about the list because Greitens did not know a number of persons on it: So after going through The Mission Continues donor list, at some point during the process, Mr. Greitens didn’t recall a number of names from the list and I was directed – he directed me to set up a meeting with Lindsey Reichardt who it was indicated that she was either a current employee or a former employee of The Mission Continues. And Eric indicated that she would have more extensive information on many of the donors from the list and that I needed to reach out to her to go over the list with her. I never met with Lindsey. I don’t recall ever reaching out to her, but it’s possible I could have. But to my knowledge, I don’t think she ever came into the office, and I certainly never met with her personally to go over the list
Page 17, After Hafner Leaves The Campaign — The List Ends Up With His New Finance Director
73. On April 22, 2015, after Hafner was no longer working for the Greitens campaign, Proctor emailed the TMC list to Meredith Gibbons, the new finance director for Greitens for Missouri. 116 As set forth below, Proctor’s email notes the attachment “is The Mission Continues donor list through May 2014 when Eric stepped down as CEO. So anything in late 2014 won’t be included here or anything from 2015.”
You can read the report in its entirety below:
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