Eric Schmitt on Eric Greitens assault allegations: He ‘should be prosecuted and belongs in prison.’

(4/1): This article has been updated to include comments from Dylan Johnson, Eric Greitens’ campaign manager.

Missouri Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Eric Schmitt on Thursday called for the imprisonment of fellow candidate Eric Greitens over domestic assault claims, the most pointed criticism toward the former governor in the campaign.

While on NewsTalk STL of St. Louis’ “Mike Ferguson in the Morning” show, Schmitt called the newest claims against Eric Greitens “disgusting” and “disturbing.” He then considered Eric Greitens to be a “predator.”

“As attorney general, I’ve fought for victims and know a predator when I see one. We put predators behind bars,” Schmitt said. “And Eric Greitens, you know, should be prosecuted and belongs in prison, not on the U.S. Senate ballot.”

The harsh comments came after Sheena Greitens, Eric Greitens’ ex-wife and mother of his two children, filed an affidavit against the former governor accusing him of spousal and child abuse, according to the Associated Press. Some claims included that he knocked down Sheena Greitens during an argument, confiscated her phone so she could not escape an argument, struck his then-three-year-old son across the face and attempted to use his political power to get her job offer from the University of Texas revoked.

This is not the first time Eric Greitens faced major assault claims. Allegations of sexual misconduct against a woman he had an affair with in 2015 led to him resigning as governor in 2018.

Schmitt’s continued criticism of Eric Greitens joins the bipartisan group of U.S. Senate candidates and Missouri politicians calling for the former governor to suspend his campaign. Fellow GOP Senate candidates Vicky Hartzler and Billy Long, Democratic candidate Lucas Kunce and both sitting U.S. senators from Missouri are calling for Greitens to end his campaign.

Greitens lost his spot as the primary’s candidate to beat after the newest sexual assault claims were reported. A poll released Wednesday by the Trafalgar Group showed Greitens losing to Hartzler by less than a percentage point, and another poll released last week by Missouri Scout showed Greitens behind Schmitt by three percentage points. Both polls had Greitens within their respective margins of error, however.

In the Missouri Scout poll, a plurality of 32% of likely Republican voters believed the sexual assault claims should disqualify Greitens from the Senate race. Meanwhile, 23% of voters did not believe the claims, 19% believed the claims but didn’t find them disqualifying, 10% did not know about the claims and 16% were not sure.

The Greitens campaign continues to feverously deny the most recent claims.

“Eric Schmitt is bought and paid for by the RINOs who were behind these false and disgusting attacks on Governor Greitens’ family,” said Dylan Johnson, Eric Greitens’ campaign manager. “Instead of trying to exploit young children, Eric Schmitt should explain why he has aligned himself with Mitch McConnell and Karl Rove instead of defending President Trump’s America First agenda. Governor Greitens is the only person in this race who has called for McConnell to be replace as Senate Leader, and that is why swampy D.C. insiders like Eric Schmitt with a history of pro-China values will fight against the movement at every turn.”