The announcement from Willbanks provided another chapter to a scandal centering on a figure with ties to Trump’s two prior presidential runs. He later founded the Gateway church in 2000 in Southlake, Texas, and it grew into one of the largest institutions of its kind in the US, with more than 100,000 congregants. Willbanks also said Morris reacted to Clemishire’s going public about his abuse by instructing church staff to issue a statement minimizing her account. And, for the second of those campaigns, he took part in a roundtable discussion with the former president and faith leaders at Gateway. Another official to resign from Gateway church after Clemishire spoke out was Morris’s son, James, who in September launched a new church.
