Republican Governor of Missouri Admits Affair, But Denies Threat of Blackmail – Friendly Atheist

I think this comment sums up well the gist of the entire story.

So he admits to the affair, but denies blackmailing the woman. That's because the former is a moral transgression, while the latter is a crime. Republicans and their "base" (more than one meaning to that word) clearly don't give a damn any more about their power brokers' moral transgressions. They only squirm about something that could actually put them in jail.

While not an apparent abuse of ones religion to gain power, Greitens seems to be rely on his wholesome image to bail on the consequences.   Although,

On paper, Eric Greitens checks all the boxes to be considered a conservative hero. He was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, a Navy SEAL who led an Al-Qaeda targeting cell, and a former Democrat who switched to the Republican side later in life. But now the Missouri governor is being accused of some pretty heinous stuff.

It all started with a months-long investigation in which reporters obtained audio of a woman saying she had sex with Gov. Greitens, and that he tried to blackmail her to keep her quiet. The recording came from the unnamed woman’s ex-husband, who said the affair took place in March of 2015.

In the recording, the woman says Greitens, a Jewish conservative who billed himself as a family man and touted ethics reform during his campaign, taped her up and blindfolded her so he could take humiliating photos to use as blackmail.

Republican Governor of Missouri Admits Affair, But Denies Threat of Blackmail – Friendly Atheist