This image was removed due to legal reasons. Southern Baptist megachurch pastor and Donald Trump “adviser” Robert Jeffress— the guy who delivered a prayer at the recent opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem—took to his second-favorite pulpit—Fox News—to explain how evangelicals could justify their continued support of a serially lying and adulterous president. Advertisement The short answer: Ronald Reagan cheated, too. Jeffress was interviewed on Friday night by Fox News’ Ed Henry, who wanted to know if “actual voters, particularly the president’s evangelical base,” would “even care” about the latest revelations that Michael Cohen had secretly recorded a pre-election conversation with Trump in which hush money payments were discussed over Trump’s alleged affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal. In case you’ve been living under a rock, McDougal is at least the second woman who works in adult entertainment that Trump has been accused of trying to pay off to hide affairs he had right after his third wife, Melania Trump, gave birth to the couple’s son Barron. Jeffress’ comments also come at the same time a BBC documentary recently hit the airwaves accusing Trump of sexually harassing teenage models at sex and cocaine parties he allegedly hosted in the 1980s and ’90s. Henry asked the Dallas-based pastor to respond to another minister who had accused Republican lawmakers of selling their souls by supporting Trump. “Well, look, nobody has sold his soul to support President Trump,” Jeffress crowed. “You know, this is not an unusual thing—we’ve been here before. Back in 1980, evangelicals chose to support a twice-married Hollywood actor who was a known womanizer in Hollywood. His name was Ronald Reagan. They chose to support him over Jimmy Carter, a born-again Baptist Sunday school teacher who had been married faithfully to one woman.” Advertisement Go on… “The reason we supported President Trump, uh, President, uh, Reagan, was not because we supported womanizing or divorce, we supported his policies,” Jeffress added. Advertisement “Ah,” Henry replied. Ah, indeed. Watch:<doc-sep>A pastor who has previously courted controversy by suggesting that Islam promotes pedophilia and that Jewish people are going to hell has said evangelicals still back President Donald Trump—although they don't support "extra-martial affairs" or "hush money payments." Speaking in an interview with Fox News on Monday night following a White House dinner hosted by Trump honoring evangelical leaders, Pastor Robert Jeffress commented that evagelicals' support for the president had not been damaged by allegations from his former lawyer Michael Cohen. "I know a lot of people are still perplexed—why are Christians so supportive of Donald Trump?" Jeffress, who is a member of Trump's Faith Advisory Group, told Fox News. "Well, it's really not that hard to figure out when you realize he is the most pro-life, pro-religious liberty, pro-conservative judiciary in history and that includes either Bush or Ronald Reagan. I think that is why evangelicals remain committed to this president and they are not going to turn away from him soon," he added. Specifically addressing the claims by adult film star Stormy Daniels that she enjoyed an extra-marital affair with Trump shortly after the birth of his youngest child Barron, Jeffress commented that the allegations had not yet been proved, but that evangelicals would likely remain on team Trump regardless. "We have to understand these are still allegations against the president, so I'm not going to judge the president on these things," Jeffress said. "But even if they were true, some of these allegations, I mean, obviously, we don't support extramarital affairs, we don't support hush money payments, but what we do support are these president's excellent policies," he continued. "And I think most thinking people can absolutely differentiate between the two. And don't be mistaking what is going on here. Those who hate President Trump, those on the left know that if they can dislodge his evangelical supporters from him, they have a shot at overtaking the White House. So I think the left is trying to shame people like myself continuously for supporting this great president. It's not going to work. We're not going to turn away from him," the pastor added. Trump has long enjoyed support from the evangelical community, with a March poll from the Public Religion Research Institute showing 75 percent of white evangelicals had a positive view of the president. Indeed, in an interview with CBN's Faith Nation, Jeffress underlined that the evangelical event was the brainchild of the president and the first lady, commenting: "The White House is very aware that evangelicals have been some of the staunchest supporters of the President. He won by the largest evangelical vote in history. He still has a 77 percent approval rating and I think they're genuinely appreciative of that."<doc-sep>Pastor Robert Jeffress said on Monday night that evangelical supporters of President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE don’t support his alleged extramarital affairs but do support his “excellent policies.” “I know a lot of people are still perplexed — why are Christians so supportive of Donald Trump?” Jeffress said during an appearance on Fox News. “Well, it’s really not that hard to figure out when you realize he is the most pro-life, pro-religious liberty, pro-conservative judiciary in history and that includes either Bush or Ronald Reagan.” The pro-Trump pastor went on to say that is why he believes so many evangelicals remain committed to the president a week after his former longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to eight counts of bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance violations relating to payments he arranged shortly before the election to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. ADVERTISEMENT “We have to understand these are still allegations against the president, so I’m not going to judge the president on these things. But even if they were true, some of these allegations, I mean, obviously, we don’t support extramarital affairs, we don’t support hush money payments, but what we do support are these president’s excellent policies,” Jeffress said. “And don’t be mistaking what is going on here. Those who hate President Trump, those on the left know that if they can dislodge his evangelical supporters from him, they have a shot at overtaking the White House,” Jeffress continued. “I think the left is trying to shame people like myself continuously for supporting this great president. It’s not going to work. We’re not going to turn away from him.” Shortly after Cohen pleaded guilty last week, Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort Paul John ManafortLegal intrigue swirls over ex-Trump exec Weisselberg: Five key points There was Trump-Russia collusion — and Trump pardoned the colluder Treasury: Manafort associate passed 'sensitive' campaign data to Russian intelligence MORE, was also convicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerSenate Democrats urge Garland not to fight court order to release Trump obstruction memo Why a special counsel is guaranteed if Biden chooses Yates, Cuomo or Jones as AG Barr taps attorney investigating Russia probe origins as special counsel MORE. Trump has since accused Cohen of making up stories to "get a 'deal' " and said in a tweet that he has "such respect" for Manafort because he did not "break" like Cohen by providing prosecutors with damaging information. The White House also contended last week that Trump "did nothing wrong" in his dealings with Cohen and said there "are no charges against him."<doc-sep>
On Monday night, Pastor Robert Jeffress appeared on Fox News and expressed evangelicals’ undying support for President Donald Trump. Attending a recent White House event with other evangelical leaders, Jeffress told Fox News anchor Shannon Bream that the “headline” from the evening would be “Evangelicals enthusiastically remain supportive of President Trump,” adding that recent headlines involving Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen didn’t affect his support of Trump nor did they for others. “I know a lot of people are still perplexed- why are Christians so supportive of Donald Trump?” Jeffress said. “Well, it’s really not that hard to figure out when you realize he is the most pro-life, pro-religious liberty, pro-conservative judiciary in history and that includes either Bush or Ronald Reagan. I think that is why evangelicals remain committed to this president and they are not going to turn away from him soon.” Bream then pressed Jeffress how critics have pointed out that he would preach against what Trump has done in his personal life, asking him if it’s a “fair trade off” when it comes to the favorable policies of the Trump administration. “To be fair, Shannon, we have to understand these are still allegations against the president, so I’m not going to judge the president on these things. But even if they were true, some of these allegations, I mean, obviously, we don’t support extramarital affairs, we don’t support hush money payments, but what we do support are these president’s excellent policies,” Jeffress told Bream. “And I think most thinking people can absolutely differentiate between the two. And don’t be mistaking what is going on here. Those who hate President Trump, those on the left know that if they can dislodge his evangelical supporters from him, they have a shot at overtaking the White House. So I think the left is trying to shame people like myself continuously for supporting this great president. It’s not going to work. We’re not going to turn away from him.” Watch the clip above, via Fox News. Have a tip we should know? [email protected]