South Carolina Governor Sanford (R) holds a press conference Wednesday afternoon after disappearing for 6 days. Initial reports out of the governor’s office said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but he was actually in Buenos Aires, Argentina. See the definitive TPM timeline on the missing governor here.
Newscom/KRT
The wife:
Jenny Sanford, who has actively campaigned with her husband and been a political player in South Carolina for some 20-odd years, put out a statement late Wednesday afternoon saying she asked Sanford to leave two weeks ago. She has been vacationing with their four sons at the couple’s Sullivan’s Island beach house for the duration of Sanford’s absence. She told the press on Monday, June 22 that she was not concerned, that Sanford only needed “time away from the kids to write something,” and on Tuesday, June 23, she told CNN she still had not heard from him.
Newscom/The State/Renee Ittner-McManus
The enemy:
State Senator John “Jake” Knotts has been flagging suspicion about Sanford’s absence at least since Saturday, June 20. While Sanford was still missing, he issued multiple critical statements asking who is in power of the state government, talked to several media outlets, and called the SLED chief himself to check up on the issue.
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The second in command:
Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer (seen here presiding over the state Senate) was not told about the Governor’s trip to Argentina and was even refused chances to speak with him on the phone earlier this week.
Newscom/The State/Erik Campos
The intrepid reporter:
Gina Smith, a reporter for South Carolina newspaper The State, tracked Sanford down at the Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta, Georgia this morning. She asked him a few questions after he got off the plane from Buenos Aires, including that he considered actually hiking the Appalachian Trail, but he “wanted to do something exotic” instead.
MSNBC
Sanford, pictured at the Hartsfield-Jackson airport.
Newscom/The State/Gina Smith
The house:
The alleged apartment of the woman who Sanford had an affair with lives on Republica de la India in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires.
Newscom/MCT
