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Gov. Eric Greitens is a silhouette.

It’s the end of day one of jury selection in his trial for felony invasion of privacy, and the Republican is whisked away in a dark SUV with tinted windows. He sits in the back seat, the outline of his face barely visible as the skyline of the city he used to claim as his own reflects its image off a polished black finish.

Greitens is separated from the press and the public. He is alone. The picture is a perfect metaphor for his short time in office.

The governor won’t answer questions from reporters.

He won’t answer heading toward impeachment.

He won’t answer questions from Attorney General Josh Hawley or ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who is now prosecuting him on two felonies.

But eventually, he’ll have to answer questions from Clayton attorney Mark Pedroli.

Given a first opportunity to do so, Greitens did his best impersonation of an FBI spokesman.

He will neither confirm nor deny pretty much anything.

This week, just before jury selection began in , Greitens delivered a set of interrogatories and documents to Pedroli in the Cole County lawsuit over the governor’s use of Confide, a mobile phone app that destroys text messages after they are sent and read. The interrogatories were obtained by the Post-Dispatch. Pedroli in December on behalf of fellow attorney Ben Sansone, and the fledgling Sunshine Project, alleging a violation of Sunshine Law and records retention laws.

The governor’s answers, his first real responses to questions over the various legal entanglements that have dogged his administration since December, say nothing and everything at the same time.

Pedroli called the answers “Stonewalling 101.â€� In at least one case, Greitens provided a document in which the entire page is redacted. Pedroli suspects the governor didn’t want to reveal anything that could damage his legal prospects in the trial going on right now in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.

“These are the responses of a governor who doesn’t want to answer questions that go to the heart of the lawsuit,� Pedroli said.

Still, they offer clues to the massive hubris that has guided a governor who doesn’t believe he needs to be accountable to the people who are paying his salary.

The biggest one is this:

The governor admits to continuing to use Confide even after Pedroli filed his lawsuit.

“After January 17, 2018, any communications made using confide did not concern public business and are therefore irrelevant,� Greitens wrote.

Of course, the entire point of the lawsuit is that if the app destroys text messages before the custodian of records can determine whether they involve public business, then it is impossible to enforce the Sunshine Law.

And that is where Greitens’ answers offer the most insight.

Pedroli asked a series of questions about who the governor communicated with using the Confide app. Greitens answered some of them. He said he didn’t communicate with other statewide elected officials. He admits he talked to his staff.

But how about major donors?

“We neither admit nor deny,� Greitens said.

Nonprofit corporations?

“We neither admit nor deny.�

The Mission Continues?

“We neither admit nor deny.�

How about A New Missouri, the governor’s dark money committee?

“We neither admit nor deny.�

Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire gaming executive thought to be a major Greitens donor?

“We neither admit nor deny.�

Political consultant Jeff Roe?

“We neither admit nor deny.�

Nick Ayers, his former adviser and now chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence?

“We neither admit nor deny.�

The Trump administration?

“We neither admit nor deny.�

The governor won’t name who the attorneys are who work in his government office. He won’t name the staff members in his office with whom he has communicated using the Confide app. Instead, he refers Pedroli to a that named them.

Imagine that. The governor who is allergic to the press, who often refers to them as “fake news,� now is asking reporters to answer the very questions he won’t answer.

Elected with dark money, governing in secret, and now, as his political career collapses, encased in a protective shell of black metal and smoky glass — this is the image of Greitens that defines him.

Once a Navy SEAL and Rhodes scholar, he will eventually leave office a shadow of his former self. As a jury of his peers is chosen to examine his actions, Greitens is a dark outline of emptiness, awaiting judgment by outside forces demanding answers.