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Secret emails show Trump pastor Robert Morris warned accuser she could be sued for seeking compensation
Newly surfaced emails show how Robert Morris – a former spiritual adviser to Donald Trump – responded to a request for restitution from a woman he allegedly abused as a child.
June 24, 2024, published at 4:00 PM ET
Robert Morrisa megachurch pastor and former spiritual advisor of Donald Trumponce warned a woman who accused him of sexually abusing her as a child that she could be prosecuted for seeking financial restitution, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Cindy Clemishire alleged that Morris repeatedly abused her over the course of four and a half years, beginning when she was twelve years old. Last week, Morris, who was 21 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, publicly admitted in the early 1980s to engaging in “inappropriate sexual conduct with a young lady.” He subsequently resigned from his position at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas.
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Morris, founder of the Gateway megachurch, admitted in the early 1980s to “inappropriate sexual conduct with a young lady.”
The influential evangelical leader, now 62, has never been criminally charged in connection with the claims. However, in a statement he admitted that he had ‘failed morally’ The Christian Post shortly after Clemishire, now 54, went public with her allegations The Wartburg watch, NBC NewsAnd The Dallas Morning News.
On Monday, NBC reported that 20 years after the alleged abuse, Clemishire sought compensation from Morris for the trauma he allegedly caused her. She shared “partially redacted emails” with the contact that were sent between Morris, Clemishire, and a former elder of Gateway Church, Tom Lane from April to October 2005 showing how the pastor responded to her request for restitution.
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When she was 35 years old, Clemishire apparently wrote an email that read, “Twenty-three years after you started destroying my life, I’m still dealing with the pain and damage you caused,” adding : ‘I want some form of restitution. Pray about it and call me.”
Morris sent Clemishire a reply two weeks later, claiming that he had already confessed to her father, and that he was under the impression that he had “obtained both your forgiveness and that of your family.”
He also mentioned his wife, Debbie MorrisIn the email we write, “Debbie and I truly care about you and we sincerely want God’s best for you.”
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However, his tone changed when he ended the message with an apparent warning: “My lawyer advises that if I pay you money under threat of exposure, you could face criminal charges and Debbie and I don’t want that.”
“If you need more information, please have your lawyer contact mine,” he added.
Clemishire had previously written in emails to Morris that men who “preach churches that have over 100 cases of child abuse will go to jail and pay restitution,” adding, “You didn’t have to do that either.”
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Last weekend, the Gateway board of elders announced that it had accepted Morris’ resignation. Church officials said they previously believed the pastor’s extramarital affair involved an adult, not a 12-year-old child, and said a law firm had been hired to investigate the matter.
Lane, the church elder from the 2005 email thread with Clemishire and Morris, has also since left the church. He said in a statement to NBC that before the allegations became public, he “did not fully understand the severity and specifics of the sexual abuse she experienced, nor did I know that she was 12 years old when the abuse began.”
Morris became a member of the Republican spiritual advisory board during the 2016 presidential election. After his victory, Trump welcomed the pastor to the White House, and in June 2020, the president visited Gateway Church and called Morris an “amazing” person.
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Trump once called Morris a “great” individual.
