Shocker! Former Trump crony has been indicted for child sex crimes

Televangelist Robert Morris, who was once touted as “wise counsel” to President Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign, has been indicted on five criminal counts involving a child.

According to a statement from the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, the abuse began on December 25, 1982, when Morris visited the home of the victim, who was just 12 years old at the time. Morris, who was 20, was working as a traveling preacher and stayed with the victim’s family.

“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child. Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable. My family and I are deeply grateful to the authorities who have worked tirelessly to make this day possible and remain hopeful that justice will ultimately prevail,” his victim, Cindy Clemishire, said through an attorney.

Clemishire, who is now 55, first disclosed the abuse in June 2024, which led Morris, founder of Gateway Church in Texas, to resign as pastor. But before leaving the church, Morris admitted to engaging in “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady.”

“It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years. In March of 1987, this situation was brought to light, and it was confessed and repented of,” he said.

But Clemishire shared a different story. 

She alleges that Morris did indeed attempt to have sex with her when she was 16 and that Morris once told her to “never tell anyone” about the abuse.

And it gets worse. At one point, Morris’ lawyers went as far as to suggest that Clemishire was to blame for her own abuse.

“It was your client who initiated inappropriate behavior, by coming into my client’s bedroom and getting in bed with him, which my client should not have allowed to happen,” lawyer J. Shelby Sharpe wrote, referring to 12-year-old Clemishire.

And like his buddy Trump, who has also been charged with rape and accused of trying to silence women, Morris tried to keep his victim quiet. According to a transcript obtained last year by NBC News, Morris asked Clemishire what it would take to keep her silent. 

“Put a price on it,” Morris said.

Before the allegations against Morris came to light, he was a fixture in the Republican Party. 

In 2016, Trump appointed Morris to his Evangelical Executive Advisory Board. And in 2017, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott touted Morris and other preachers for supporting the state’s so-called “bathroom bill,” which sought to ban transgender people from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identities. 

According to The New York Times, Morris hosted Trump at his Texas-based church in June 2020 for a discussion on race relations and the economy. And a few months later, Morris attended Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s Rose Garden ceremony, which was later labeled a COVID-19 superspreader event.

However, once the allegations came to light, Trump and other Republicans began distancing themselves from the disgraced ex-pastor. A spokesperson for Trump told The Times that Morris played no role in his 2024 campaign.

Still, it’s striking to see who Trump has kept in his orbit. While he’s lauded folks like Morris, Trump has practically launched smear campaigns against religious leaders who have preached for mercy and kindness. 

And even if Trump has taken a step back from Morris, that doesn’t erase his reputation for surrounding himself with and defending some of the worst people imaginable.

Morris could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the five charges if he’s found guilty. And according to The Associated Press, Morris was not in custody as of Wednesday.

“There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in his statement. “This case is all the more despicable because the alleged perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his position.”