Robert Morris, the Dallas-area megachurch pastor who was formerly a spiritual advisor to Trump, has been indicted on child sex crimes that date back to the 1980s in Oklahoma.
On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted Morris on five felony counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child after concluding that he had used his hands and body to touch the girl’s private parts from when she was 12 until she was 14, according to the indictment.
Morris resigned less than a year ago from Gateway Church in Texas after an adult woman, Cindy Clemishire, said Morris repeatedly sexually assaulted her while she was a child in Oklahoma in the 1980s. Morris was at the time working as a traveling preacher.
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” she said. “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.”
Morris has been politically active in Texas and nationally.
- In 2017, Morris was tapped by Gov. Greg Abbott to help support the so-called “Bathroom Bill” that sought to ban transgender people from using their preferred bathroom — in part by arguing that it would allow children to be sexually abused.
- Morris also attended the “Roundtable on Transition to Greatness” in 2020, attended by Republicans including former AG Bill Barr.
