A prosecutor in Missouri is facing a grand jury probe, and possible indictment, over her handling of a case that had made the former governor in the state resign. It is believed the case may likely have been politically motivated. The Missouri governor had been accused of 'felony invasion of privacy' for allegedly taking photographs of his scantily clad girlfriend and threatening to release them if she went public with their affair. The prosecutor had one witness. However, it should have been obvious to the prosecutor that the story was very likely just made up. But the prosecutor went ahead with the case anyway, likely to try to get the governor removed, because he was a Republican. The accusations forced the governor to resign over the scandal. The prosecutor's election campaign was funded by George Soros. She is now in big trouble, and may likely end up in prison and be removed from her position. That is the simple summary of the story. The detailed account of story can be found below: In 2016, Kimberly Gardner was elected as the city of St. Louis's first African-American chief prosecutor. Her campaign was funded heavily by mega-donor George Soros. Four years later, she herself is under investigation and her chief investigator already indicted for a bad prosecution, which had forced Missouri's Republican governor to resign, in what some now believe may have been a political attack. Gardner, a Democrat and the city's circuit attorney, was forced in 2018 to withdraw her indictment accusing Gov. Eric Greitens of felony invasion of privacy for allegedly taking a picture of his scantily clad girlfriend and threatening to release it if she talked about their affair. Gardner's office dropped the charge after admitting she did not have proof of the photo or its transmission. Investigators now allege the Greitens prosecution, which forced the governor to resign less than two years into his tenure, was built on lies that included perjury and hiding exculpatory evidence that would have helped demonstrate Greitens' innocence, court documents show. Most significantly, testimony transcripts and court records obtained by Just the News show the woman Gardner built her case around, beautician Katrina Sneed, testified she was asked unsolicited by Gardner’s office to come forward as a witness and that she was actually reluctant to accuse Greitens because the entire story of a photo on his mobile phone may have been a dream. "And at any point were you were in the basement with E.G. (Eric Greitens) at his home, did you see what you believed to be a phone?" Sneed was asked during an April 6, 2018 pretrial deposition with defense lawyers. Sneed answered: "So not that’s like a very vivid memory which is the reason why I haven’t talked about it because I don’t know if it’s because I'm remembering it through a dream or I - I'm not sure, but yes, I feel like I saw it after that happened, but I haven't spoken about it because of that." The magnitude of alleged holes and potential misconduct in the case that Gardner brought against Greitens have been laid bare in subsequent court filings, which include a seven-count felony indictment against Gardner's chief investigator in the case, William Tisaby. The new evidence has not only engulfed her office in controversy; it has also drawn comparisons in Washington to the Russia collusion allegations against President Trump that were leaked and investigated, only to be debunked after a nearly three-year drama. "Ms. Gardner tampered with the integrity of the grand jury and our judicial system by feloniously causing an indictment of a man for whom she did not have the evidence," said Dwight Warren, who worked for 40 years as a prosecutor in the St. Louis circuit attorney’s office before he was fired by Gardner in 2017. "If the system is to command the respect of its citizens, they need to trust their prosecutor to be fair." Warren turned the tables on his former boss after his firing, writing an op-ed in spring 2018 that declared there was no basis for Gardner’s indictment of Greitens. His prediction proved true within a few months. Gardner to date has not been charged with wrongdoing and has steadfastly denied she engaged in any misconduct, even as the city police and a special prosecutor have charged her former investigator in the case, the ex-FBI agent Tisaby, with six counts of perjury and one count of evidence tampering in the Greitens case. Tisaby has pleaded innocent. His lawyer, Jermaine Wooten, did not immediately return a call seeking comment but has said previously his client is "absolutely 100 percent innocent" and a victim of discrimination. Gardner has been ordered to appear before the grand jury, and is listed as a potential witness in Tisaby’s criminal trial later this month. Facts disclosed in the Tisaby indictment suggest Gardner herself was complicit in his wrongdoing by staying silent while Tisaby allegedly lied. For instance, the special prosecutors alleged that when Tisaby falsely denied during a March 2018 pretrial deposition in the Greitens case that there was a functioning videotape of the Sneed interview, Gardner did not correct him even as she questioned him. “There is no recording of this interview?,” Tisaby was asked by Gardner. “None whatsoever,” he answered. Tisaby's indictment declared that Gardner's office had videotaped the sessions and she "failed to disclose the fact for several months." Prosecutors say a functioning videotape was found in Gardner’s office, and the camera had not malfunctioned as had been claimed, according to the Tisaby indictment. The Greitens case isn’t the only controversy impacting Gardner: More than 70 prosecutors in her office have been fired or forced to quit and dozens of St. Louis police officers have been banned from testifying in court. She also was fined more than $60,000 for campaign finance violations. After signing a plea deal, Gardner issued a statement blaming clerical errors for the campaign violations and accusing a "Republican political operative" for filing the complaint against her. Gardner claims she is a victim of her efforts to clean up what she says is a dirty and racist law enforcement system in St. Louis, even filing a lawsuit against the city under a law that had been created to fight the Ku Klux Klan in 1871. Gardner declined comment through her media spokesperson, who forwarded a copy of her prior statement about the civil rights litigation. "Gardner was elected in 2016 on a promise to redress the scourge of historical inequality and rebuild trust in the criminal justice system among communities of color," Gardner’s complaint reads. "Unfortunately, entrenched interests in St. Louis, including Defendants, have mobilized to thwart these efforts through a broad campaign of collusive conduct." No matter which side prevails in the coming months, the investigators who went after Greiten are now the investigated. Greitens says he believes he was forced to give up his governorship for allegations that were unsubstantiated at best, and outright false at worst. While he admits an extramarital affair with Sneed, he has always denied Gardner's charge. Earlier this month, the Missouri Ethics Commission cleared Greitens of charges lodged against him during the height of the scandal that he had violated campaign finance laws. The commission "found no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Eric Greitens" but fined his campaign for two reporting violations. This tale of political intrigue and problematic prosecution dates back to spring 2016, when Gardner ran for St. Louis Circuit Attorney and won, a popular African-American rising to power as the city’s chief prosecutor in the aftermath of the racially tinged police shooting in nearby Ferguson, Mo. Soros, one of the largest liberal benefactors in history, donated $630,000 that year to a political action committee called Safety and Justice Committee. That super PAC in turn donated more than $204,000 as an in-kind donation to Gardner's election. Soros' support accounted for about two-thirds of her total campaign donations of nearly $300,000, according to a post-election filing with the Missouri Ethics Commission. Greitens made a surprise win in November 2016 when he was elected governor. And quickly he set out to make good on his promises, which included cutting back a low-income housing program that awarded tax credits worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the state’s politically connected. Instead of choosing an investigator from the local police or her own office, Gardner hired outside investigative help. One of Gardner’s former classmates from St. Louis University Law School recommended Tisaby to Gardner. Tisaby didn't even live in Missouri. This was very unusual. The weakness of the case emerged quickly, from within Gardner's own ranks. "As a longtime prosecutor, I’m stunned that there’s any indictment in this case at all," Warren wrote. "Why? Because right out of the gate, in court, the State admitted they do not have the photograph purported to have been taken and no evidence that it was transmitted." Concerns about the prosecution's conduct snowballed quickly, as defense lawyers gained access to evidence and discovered some of Tisaby's alleged misconduct. In May 2018, as the case was heading to trial, the Circuit Attorney's office voluntarily dropped the charges against Greitens. The questions kept on piling up, especially about how Gardner could indict a sitting governor for a crime that lacked the incriminating photo at the core of the charge. Sneed testified during the deposition that she may have dreamed the whole photo. Note, the above is a drastically shortened version of the article. The full article can be seen here: https://justthenews.com/accountabil...d-gop-governor-boomerangs-george-soros-backed Missouri case that toppled GOP governor boomerangs on Soros-backed prosecutor, Just the News, Christine Dolan and John Solomon, March 2020 I like to post parts of the actual article because very often, over time, the links cease to work, and the original articles can get taken down and permanently disappear, and I would like for people in several years to be able to see this thread and be able to understand the story. Also some people may be accessing the internet with phone, and it makes it easier for them if they do not have to click on a link. Sometimes phones are unable to access these news sites because of slow speeds. I do have to comment on one thing. How rare it is for a prosecutor to ever be held accountable for their misconduct. It usually only ever happens when they go after some high level government official. This is not the first time a prosecutor has gone after a state governor and used their influence to get the governor removed on false pretenses.
a further update on this story: Woman accusing Missouri governor of sexual harassment bribed to make false accusations It turns out the woman making the false accusations was paid $120,000 to do so. Report: Woman who accused fmr. Mo. gov. of sexual abuse paid to make false allegations, One America News Network, June 27, 2020
related old thread, about corrupt prosecutors going after state governors to depose them: former Virginia Governor wrongly charged and convicted
