Claim:
In 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser, Robert Morris, was arrested on suspicion of molesting a 12-year-old child.
Rating:
What’s True
Morris, who previously served on Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board, pleaded guilty on Oct. 2, 2025, to charges of five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. The abuse involved a 12-year-old child, according to Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office.
What’s False
There was no evidence that Morris served in any advisory role for Trump at the time of this writing. A White House official told Snopes, “This is false, he is not the President’s spiritual adviser.”
What’s Undetermined
It was unclear exactly when Morris stopped serving in a faith advisory role for Trump. A spokesperson for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign told The New York Times in June of that year that Morris had no role in the campaign.
In mid-November 2025, social media posts (archived here, here and here) claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser had been arrested on suspicion of molesting a 12-year-old child.
The posts included a video that appeared to show law enforcement officers leading a handcuffed man out of a courthouse.
Several Snopes readers searched our website to verify whether the claim was true.
In short, the claim combined both true and false information.
Robert Morris, the founder and former senior pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, Texas, pleaded guilty on Oct. 2, 2025, to charges of five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, according to Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office (archived). Drummond’s office said the abuse involved a 12-year-old child, as social media posts correctly stated.
The Dallas Morning News took the video (archived) showing law enforcement officers escorting Morris out of what appeared to be a courthouse.
Trump’s presidential campaign appointed Morris to its evangelical advisory board in 2016, according to a news release archived by The American Presidency Project (archived). The June 2016 press release said the executive board — which included Morris — would also “lead a much larger Faith and Cultural Advisory Committee to be announced later this month.”
However, there was no evidence that Morris served in any advisory role for Trump at the time of this writing. In response to Snopes’ inquiry, a White House official said, “This is false, he is not the President’s spiritual adviser.”
It was unclear exactly when Morris left Trump’s orbit. A spokesperson for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign told The New York Times in June of that year that Morris had no role in the campaign.
Morris’ case and plea
In June 2024, Morris resigned as senior pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake three days after he confessed to engaging in “sexual behavior” with a child during the 1980s, NBC News reported (archived). He was then indicted by a multi-county grand jury in 2025, according to Drummond’s office.
The abuse began in December 1982, when Morris, then working as a traveling evangelist, visited the victim’s family in Hominy, Oklahoma. The victim, identified as Cindy Clemishire, was 12 years old at the time and Morris continued to abuse her over the next four years, Drummond’s office said. Snopes does not publicly identify victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward, as Clemishire has.
According to Drummond’s office, Morris entered his guilty plea before an Osage County judge as part of a plea agreement.
Under his plea agreement, Morris received a 10-year suspended sentence and would serve six months in the Osage County Jail. Online jail records showed that Morris was booked into the Osage County Jail on Oct. 2.
(Osage County Sheriff’s Office)
Morris must register as a sex offender and will be supervised by Texas authorities. The court also ordered him to pay the costs of his incarceration, including any medical expenses, and restitution to his victim, according to Drummond’s office.
Clemishire provided the following statement in response to the plea:
Today justice has finally been served, and the man who manipulated, groomed and abused me as a 12-year-old innocent girl is finally going to be behind bars. My hope is that many victims hear my story, and it can help lift their shame and allow them to speak up. I hope that laws continue to change and new ones are written so children and victims’ rights are better protected. I hope that people understand the only way to stop child sexual abuse is to speak up when it happens or is suspected.
Today is a new beginning for me, my family and friends who have been by my side through this horrendous journey. I leave this courtroom today not as a victim, but a survivor.
Morris’ previous ties to Trump
In an archived news release dated June 21, 2016, Trump’s campaign announced the formation of an Evangelical Executive Advisory Board that would counsel him on “issues important to Evangelicals and other people of faith in America.” Morris, senior pastor of Gateway Church, was named as a member of the executive board, which was also tasked with leading a larger Faith and Cultural Advisory Committee.
Morris’ association with Trump continued over the next several years. In June 2020, he participated in a roundtable discussion (archived) that Trump held at Gateway Church’s Dallas campus with faith leaders, law enforcement and others.
In 2021, he was also part of an effort to “mobilize conservatives and evangelicals ahead of Trump’s 2024 presidential bid,” according to The Texas Tribune (archived).
Beyond Trump, Morris was active in state politics. In 2017, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott urged him (archived) and other faith leaders to garner support for the controversial “Bathroom Bill,” which sought to restrict transgender people from using bathrooms aligning with their gender identity, according to The Associated Press.
