Missouri state Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden (R) announced on Monday that U.S. Senate candidate and disgraced ex-governor Eric Greitens’ “RINO hunting” campaign ad had prompted him to reach out to law enforcement.
“We have been in contact with the Missouri Highway Patrol and hope that former Gov. Greitens finds the help he needs,” Rowden tweeted.
“Anyone with multiple accusations of abuse toward women and children should probably steer clear of this rhetoric,” he added, referring to Greitens’ ex-wife’s graphic accusations of domestic abuse against the candidate.
TPM has reached out to the Missouri State Highway Patrol to ask whether they’ve heard from Rowden.
Rowden made the announcement in a retweet of the video, though that original post is now gone because it was posted by “an account that no longer exists,” according to Twitter’s note in lieu of the video. The account, which had a handle of @greitens_eric, was deactivated by the user, a Twitter spokesperson told TPM.
Rowden’s announcement came several hours after Greitens unveiled the new ad, which shows the candidate, who once served as a Navy SEAL, and men in military gear busting into a house in a mission to “hunt” RINOs (“Republicans In Name Only”).
“Join the MAGA crew. Get a RINO hunting permit,” Greitens says in the ad. “There’s no bagging limit, no tagging limit, and it doesn’t expire until we save our country.”
Facebook has removed the ad for violating the platform’s policies on violence. Twitter is letting the video stay up with a disclaimer above it stating that “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about abusive behavior,” but also “Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”
