Pastor of a Texas megachurch and former spiritual adviser to Trump admits ‘inappropriate sexual conduct toward a young lady’ after the woman claimed he abused her when she was 12

A woman has accused the pastor of a Texas megachurch of sexually abusing her when she was 12 years old. The preacher only admitted to “inappropriate sexual conduct toward a young lady.”

Cindy Clemishire has made allegations against 62-year-old Robert Morris, founder and pastor of the Gateway Church in Southlake, which claims to have 100,000 weekly visitors.

She claimed that the pastor, who was also once a spiritual adviser to former President Donald Trump, abused her from 1982 to 1987, when she was between 12 and 16 years old.

Clemishire, who made her allegations public and revealed her identity on Friday, said Morris was an itinerant preacher when she and her family met at her church in Oklahoma in 1981.

The two families – including Morris’ wife and son – grew closer, and Clemishire claimed Morris’s abuse began when he stayed overnight at her family’s Tulsa home during Christmas 1982.

She describes a scene in which Morris asked her to come into his room and talk to him and asked her to lie on his bed.

Morris began touching her inappropriately. Clemishire claimed he first touched her stomach, then her breasts, and finally under her pants.

“I remember exactly what I was wearing and how the pajamas felt. They were light pink and consisted of a top with bloomers. I wore underwear and bloomers and the top and a robe that buttoned up over it,” she said.

Clemishire adds that after the alleged abuse, Morris “told me I couldn’t tell anyone because it would ruin everything.”

She says he continued to isolate and abuse her for the next four and a half years before she finally spoke out, first to a family friend and then to her parents.

Clemishire’s father called for Morris to be removed from the ministry and she claims he did so for two years to undergo “reinstatement.” He returned to preaching in 1989.

Morris, for his part, acknowledged some wrongdoing in a statement to The Christian Post on Saturday, but never acknowledged that Clemishire was a minor at the time.

“When I was in my early twenties, I engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior toward a young lady in a home where I lived. It was kissing and petting and not sexual intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior occurred several times over the next few years,” he said.

He claims to have “repented” in March 1987 when the allegations became public, and said he received “counseling and freedom mission.”

Morris says he and his wife met with Clemishire and her family in October 1989 and “asked them for forgiveness, and they graciously forgave me.”

He also claims that he returned to the ministry with the “full blessing” of Clemishire’s father.

Clemishire told the Dallas Morning News that this is not entirely true.

“Of course we want to forgive, we are called to do so. But in my family he never received the blessing to return to ministry,” she said.

“We do not believe that someone who has done such a thing should be the boss of anyone in any industry, especially not in the church.”

She also doesn’t believe Morris ever truly regretted his abuse, and his testimony proves that.

“I don’t think it shows remorse when someone calls a 12-year-old a ‘young lady’ and tries to dismiss what happened as mere petting,” Clemishire said.

“I don’t think this is remorse. There is no child in the world that anyone should do this to. It is simply unacceptable. There is no excuse for this.”

“He didn’t come forward and confess. He was betrayed,” she said. “What does someone who is betrayed feel sorry for? Is he sorry he got caught? Or does he genuinely regret what he did?”

The two had already argued about this in court in the past. In 2005, she sued him and demanded that he pay $50,000 to cover the cost of therapy.

Morris, through a lawyer, accused her of “taking advantage” of the pastor’s sexual advances and tried to get her to sign a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for $25,000. She did not accept the deal.

The pastor was part of Trump’s “evangelical advisory board” during his 2016 presidential campaign and visited Gateway in 2020 for a panel discussion.

The other leaders and elders of the Gateway Church also tried to exonerate Morris in a statement.

“Pastor Robert has spoken openly and honestly about a moral lapse he made over 35 years ago, when he was in his twenties and before he founded Gateway Church. He has publicly shared from the pulpit the correct biblical steps he has taken in his lengthy recovery process,” they said.

However, Morris did not lead the church’s services on Saturday and the church has neither issued a statement nor given interviews regarding the renewed allegations.

“We are not granting interviews or making any further comment at this time,” Lawrence Swicegood, CEO of Gateway Media, said in a statement.

According to WFAA, Clemishire has hired Boz Tchividjian to represent her in a new potential lawsuit. Tchividjian is the grandson of evangelist Billy Graham.

“I hope and pray that everything turns out well. For the church, for the glory of God and for other victims to find their freedom,” she said.

Morris was never charged and the statute of limitations for such cases has long since expired.