Pastor says porn star allegations against Trump are 'totally irrelevant' to his evangelical supporters
Evangelical Pastor Robert Jeffress has argued that evangelical supporters of President Donald Trump are not hypocrites despite their continuing support for the president amid allegations that he had an affair with an adult film star.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Jeffress contended that the allegations against Trump were "totally irrelevant" to his evangelical supporters.
"Evangelicals know they're not compromising their beliefs in order to support this great president. And let's be clear, evangelicals still believe in the commandment 'Thou shalt not have sex with a porn star,'" said Jeffress, who leads the First Baptist Dallas megachurch.
"Whether this president violated that commandment or not is totally irrelevant to our support of him," he continued.
Jeffress, a member of Trump's evangelical advisory board, argued that evangelicals knew that they "weren't voting for an altar boy" during the 2016 presidential election, and insisted that they supported the business magnate because of his "policies and strong leadership."
"We are all sinners, we all need forgiveness, [and] that forgiveness is available through Christ for anyone who asks. And whether the president needs that forgiveness for this particular allegation, whether he's asked for it, is between him, his family and his God," the pastor said.
Jeffress said that he would never walk away from Trump because of his friendship with him, but added that if the president would suddenly change his policies and was found to be in an adulterous relationship today, it would "cause for many people a problem."
The allegations against Trump came last month amid reports that his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, had paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 in October 2016 as part of a nondisclosure agreement that ensured she would not talk about the alleged sexual encounter with the business magnate in 2006. Cohen had reportedly acknowledged that he had made the payment, but he never revealed what it was for.
Daniels, who was born Stephanie Clifford, had claimed in a 2011 interview with In Touch magazine that the sexual relationship with Trump began in 2006, when his wife, Melania Trump, was pregnant with Barron.
In the past few months, both Trump and Daniels had both denied the alleged affair in an apparent attempt to comply with the nondisclosure agreement.
The adult film star, however, had recently sued the president in an effort to void the nondisclosure agreement. She claimed in her lawsuit that the agreement that she signed was not valid because it was never signed by Trump.