CHICAGO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Eric Greitens, the U.S. governor of the Midwest state of Missouri, resigned on Tuesday amid expanding investigations of a sexual misconduct scandal and potential violations of campaign funding.
"Today, I am announcing that I will resign as governor of Missouri effective Friday, June 1st, at 5 p.m.," Greitens said from the governor's office during a hastily-arranged news conference.
Greitens previously had said he would not quit his post despite the allegations against him. He was facing possible impeachment.
The 44-year-old Rhodes scholar has been accused of taking and transmitting a non-consensual, partially nude, photo of a woman with whom he was having an affair.
In February, St Louis prosecutors indicted Greitens on a felony invasion-of-privacy charge in connection with the incident, which he said was consensual.
That charge was dismissed in the city of St. Louis on May 14, but prosecutors in Kansas City said they still plan to pursue the case, either through a special prosecutor or an appointed assistant.
Greitens faced his second charge in April for allegedly misusing a veterans charity's donor list to raise money for his 2016 campaign.
At Tuesday's news conference, he cited the incredible strain of his current legal woes, mounting legal bills and the calls for his resignation to announce his departure.
"This ordeal has been designed to cause an incredible amount of strain on my family," Greitens said. "Millions of dollars of mounting legal bills; endless personal attacks designed to cause maximum damage to family and friends; legal harassment of colleagues, friends, and campaign workers; and it's clear for the forces that oppose us, there's no end in sight."
Greitens maintained that he had "not broken any laws, nor committed any offense worthy of this treatment."
Greitens, a onetime Navy SEAL, assumed office in January 2017, defeating Democrat and former Attorney General Chris Koster.
