A member of President Trump’s evangelical advisory board defended Trump over the controversy surrounding his alleged relationship with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, saying the allegations were “totally irrelevant” to evangelicals who support Trump.
“Evangelicals know they’re not compromising their beliefs in order to support this great president,” Pastor Robert Jeffress said on Fox News Thursday. “And let’s be clear, evangelicals still believe in the commandment ‘thou shalt not have sex with a porn star.’”
“However, whether this president violated that commandment or not is totally irrelevant to our support of him,” he continued.
{mosads}Jeffress said evangelicals knew they “weren’t voting for an altar boy” when they voted for Trump and maintained they supported Trump for his “policies and strong leadership.”
The pastor, who oversees the First Baptist Church in Dallas, said evangelicals understand “the concept of sin and forgiveness.”
“We are all sinners, we all need forgiveness, [and] that forgiveness is available through Christ for anyone who asks,” he said. “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.”
Jeffress’s comments come days after Daniels filed a lawsuit against Trump in an effort to void a nondisclosure agreement between the two.
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, claims in her suit that the nondisclosure agreement she signed preventing her from discussing an alleged intimate relationship in 2006 is not valid because Trump never signed it.
Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, admitted last month that he paid Daniels $130,000 in October 2016 as part of the agreement that ensured she wouldn’t speak about the alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
Cohen has reportedly tried to silence Daniels by obtaining a temporary restraining order against her from a private investigator, according to NBC News.
Jeffress has been a staunch defender of Trump in the past. Last month he issued a statement defending Trump for reportedly referring to Haiti, El Salvador and some African nations as “shithole countries,” saying the remark was “right on target.”