Texas megachurch founder Robert Morris has been indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, stemming from alleged incidents in Oklahoma in the 1980s. The indictment, issued by a multi-county grand jury on 12 March, alleges Morris began sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in December 1982 while he was a travelling evangelist visiting Hominy, Oklahoma. The abuse reportedly continued over four years; Morris was 21 at the time.
Morris, 63, served as a member of Donald Trump's spiritual advisory committee and Evangelical Executive Advisory Board during Trump's first presidential term. He also hosted Trump at Gateway Church in June 2020, where Trump praised him as having a “great reputation.” Following Morris's resignation in 2024, the Trump campaign stated he had no role in the campaign.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond condemned the alleged abuse, saying, “There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children. This case is all the more despicable because the alleged perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his position.” The victim, Cindy Clemishire, expressed relief that “after almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris.”
Morris resigned as senior pastor of Gateway Church last year after revelations of the abuse emerged. The church saw a sharp drop in donations and faced a class action lawsuit alleging financial fraud. A leaked phone transcript from 2005 allegedly shows Morris attempting to bribe Clemishire, telling her to “put a price on it”; she reportedly requested $2 million before Morris hung up.
In November 2024, Gateway Church removed four elders after an internal investigation found they either knew of the abuse or failed to inquire further. Morris had also been tapped by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in 2017 to support a so-called “bathroom bill” targeting transgender people.
