OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A former pastor of a Texas megachurch accused of child sexual abuse surrendered to Oklahoma authorities Monday.
Robert Preston Morris, 63, turned himself in to officials in Osage County, where he was charged last week with five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office, told The Associated Press.
Court records show an Osage County judge set a $50,000 bond and ordered Morris to surrender his passport.
Morris is expected to make an initial appearance before a judge at 10 a.m. on May 9, Bacharach said.
Attorney Mack Martin declined to comment on the charges but said he anticipated entering a not guilty plea on Morris' behalf.
Morris resigned last year as pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas suburb of Southlake after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her in the 1980s.
The victim, referred to in the indictment as C.C., told authorities the abuse started when she was 12 years old and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family, according to the attorney general’s office. She said the abuse continued for four years.
Cindy Clemishire, Morris’ accuser, said in a statement that she is very grateful to the authorities who have worked to make the indictment possible and is hopeful “justice will ultimately prevail.”
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” said Clemishire, now 55. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable.”
The AP typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted, but Clemishire said she would like her name included.
Morris was known to be politically active. The church hosted President Donald Trump on its Dallas campus in 2020 for a discussion on race relations and the economy.
Morris could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the five charges, according to the attorney general’s office.
FILE - Pastor Robert Morris applauds during a roundtable discussion at Gateway Church Dallas Campus, Thursday, June 11, 2020, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday calling for the shutdown of the U.S. Education Department, according to a White House official, advancing a campaign promise to eliminate an agency that’s been a longtime target of conservatives. The Justice Department is resisting a federal judge’s demand for more information about flights that took deportees to El Salvador, arguing that the court should end its “continued intrusions” into executive branch authority. A different federal judge allowed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to remain in control of the U.S. Institute of Peace, an independent nonprofit created by Congress. And the Trump administration has suspended approximately $175 million in funding for the University of Pennsylvania over a transgender swimmer who last competed for the school in 2022.
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Badar Khan Suri was determined to be deportable for “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said late Wednesday on X.
A Georgetown statement says the Indian national was “duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan” while studying at the university’s center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
“We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention,” the school said. “We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”
▶ Read more on the Georgetown scholar’s detention
That’s according to the Labor Department’s latest tally of jobless claims filings, showing they rose by 2,000 last week to slightly less than the 224,000 new applications analysts forecast.
The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of March 8 rose by 33,000 to 1.89 million.
Economists don’t expect the Trump administration’s federal workforce layoffs to appear until the March jobs report.
▶ Read more about unemployment and layoff numbers
Across wine country in France, Italy and Spain one number is top of mind: 200%.
That’s because last week Trump threatened a tariff of that amount on European wine, Champagne and other spirits if the European Union went ahead with retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. products. The top wine producers in Europe could face crippling costs that would hit smaller wineries especially hard.
Europe’s wine industry is the latest to find itself in the crosshairs of a possible trade spat with the U.S.
Italy, France and Spain are among the top five exporters of wine to the United States. Trump made his threat to Europe’s alcohol industry after the European Union announced a 50% tax on American whiskey expected to take effect on April 1. That duty was unveiled in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum.
▶ Read more about the possible tax on foreign liquor
The White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity before the announcement, said Trump plans to sign the order on Thursday.
Finalizing the elimination of the Department of Education would require an act of Congress.
But a White House fact sheet said the order would direct Education Secretary Linda McMahon “to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure (of) the Department of Education and return education authority to the States, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”
Associated Press reporter Chris Megerian contributed.
In an effort to limit fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration will impose tighter identity-proofing measures — which will require millions of recipients and applicants to visit agency field offices rather than interact with the agency over the phone.
Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency’s “my Social Security” online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.
The change will apply to new Social Security applicants and existing recipients who want to change their direct deposit information.
Retiree advocates warn that the change will negatively impact older Americans in rural areas, including those with disabilities, mobility limitations, those who live far from SSA offices and have limited internet access.
▶ Read more about changes being made to social security
Maine’s education office is being ordered to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports or face federal prosecution, an escalation in Trump’s threats to pull federal money from states and schools over transgender athletes.
The Education Department on Wednesday said an investigation concluded Maine’s education office violated the Title IX antidiscrimination law by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls’ sports teams and use girls’ facilities. It’s giving Maine 10 days to comply with a list of demands or face Justice Department prosecution.
The federal investigation was opened Feb. 21, just hours after Trump and the state’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, clashed over the issue at a meeting of governors at the White House. During the heated exchange, Mills told the Republican president, “We’ll see you in court.”
▶ Read more about the investigation into Maine’s Department of Education
People gather to protest against Israel and President Donald Trump in front of a Trump-branded building Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
People rally at the University of California, Berkeley campus to protest the Trump administration Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
