Trump Ally Admits to Horrific Relationship With a Minor
A megachurch pastor, whom Donald Trump once lauded as a “spiritual adviser,” has admitted to “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady,” following new allegations that he’d sexually abused a 12 year-old.
Cindy Clemishire shared her account of sexual abuse by Robert Morris, who currently leads Gateway Church in Dallas, on Friday in the Wartburg Watch, a religious watchdog site.
In the 1980s, Morris would occasionally stay with Clemishire’s family when he was a traveling evangelist. In 1982, Morris invited Clemishire to his room, where he allegedly sexually molested her, warning her never to tell anyone. According to Clemishire, the abuse escalated and continued from 1982 to 1987.
Morris released a statement Saturday to the Christian Post responding to the claims.
“When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying. It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years,” said Morris.
“In March of 1987, this situation was brought to light, and it was confessed and repented of. I submitted myself to the Elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady’s father. They asked me to step out of ministry and receive counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that time, I have walked in purity and accountability in this area.”
Morris neglected to mention in his statement that Clemishire was 12 at the time the abuse started. He also does not mention apologizing to her directly.
Gateway Church said that Morris underwent a two-year “restoration process” following a “moral failure,” in a statement to WFAA.
Morris was able to return to Shady Grove Church in 1987, after being forgiven by the victim’s father, he said. “I asked their forgiveness, and they graciously forgave me,” said Morris.
Clemishire said that although her family forgave him, her father never supported his return to ministry.
Morris did return, and in 2003, he founded the Gateway Church, one of the largest megachurches in the country. Gateway boasts a weekly attendance of 100,000 parishioners, according to the church’s website.
In 2016, Donald Trump named Morris to his spiritual advisory board, a convenient prop in his ultimately successful efforts to secure the white Evangelical Christian vote. In 2020, Trump visited Gateway Church, which had since expanded into several campuses across the Dallas area, amid the Black Lives Matter protests in response to George Floyd’s murder.
Clemishire told the Dallas Morning News that she was left unconvinced by Morris’s statement.
“I don’t think that it’s repentant when someone calls a 12-year-old a young lady and tries to just dismiss what happened as just some heavy petting,” she said. “I don’t believe that’s repentance. There’s no child on earth that any person should ever do that to. It’s just unacceptable. There’s zero excuse.”