Independent Missouri Senate hopeful: Trump should face criminal probe over Jan. 6

Part of his motivation for entering the race, he said in an interview, was the need for Missouri to elect a senator willing to stand up for democracy itself. 

“When you see people attacking the U.S. Capitol because they’re unhappy that the vice president wouldn’t unilaterally decide the outcome of the election, I mean, we’ve kind of lost our consensus around following the Constitution and preserving our democracy,” he said. “Part of living in a democracy is accepting the results of an election regardless of whether your team wins.”

That condemnation extends to the former president, Wood said, who still refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election and whose rhetoric is “really over the top and dangerous.”

Wood, 52, said that with the congressional hearings still ongoing it would be premature for him to say whether he believed Trump committed any crimes by encouraging his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell” on Jan. 6, 2021. 

But “morally, and ethically,” Wood said, Trump “bears a lot of responsibility.”

Wood entered the race Wednesday as Republican leaders continue to publicly fret that former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens could prevail in a 21-candidate GOP primary for the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt.  

Facing allegations that he committed violent sexual misconduct and stole from a veterans charity, Greitens was forced to resign from office in 2018 to avoid impeachment and settle a felony charge. 

Earlier this year, his ex-wife accused him of spousal and child abuse.

Greitens has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, though not under oath. And thus far the accusations have not hurt his standing in most polls of the race.

The prospect of a Greitens nomination played into his decision to join the race, Wood said. But he intends to run an independent campaign regardless of who emerges from the GOP primary, he said, because each of the leading candidates in the field are too extreme. 

“This race is about more than just one U.S. Senate seat,” Wood said. “My hope is that when I win, it’ll send a message to both major parties — not just in Missouri, but across the country — that while being divisive and extreme may help people get their party’s nominations, it’s going to hurt them in a general election.”

To get on the November ballot as an independent, Wood will need to submit petitions signed by 10,000 registered voters by Aug. 1.

Former Republican U.S. Sen. John Danforth has urged Wood to run as a right-leaning independent. Wood once worked for Danforth’s staff.

On Thursday, Danforth announced a super PAC he founded called Missouri Stands United plans to spend as much as $20 million between now and November supporting Wood’s candidacy. The PAC is already on the air with ads featuring Danforth calling on all Missourians to unite and support an independent who can help heal the nation’s divisions.