Falwell Jr.'s skeleton comes running out of the closet.

[RandySF]

LYNCHBURG, Va. (Reuters) - Evangelical leader and prominent Donald Trump backer Jerry Falwell Jr personally approved real estate transactions by his nonprofit Christian university that helped his personal fitness trainer obtain valuable university property, according to real estate records, internal university emails and interviews.

Around 2011, Falwell, president of Liberty University in Virginia, and his wife, Rebecca, began personal fitness training sessions with Benjamin Crosswhite, then a 23-year-old recent Liberty graduate. Now, after a series of university real estate transactions signed by Falwell, Crosswhite owns a sprawling 18-acre racquet sports and fitness facility on former Liberty property. Last year, a local bank approved a line of credit allowing Crosswhite's business to borrow as much as $2 million against the property.

Falwell, one of the most influential right-wing Christian leaders in the United States, has been buffeted by disclosures about his private dealings over the last year and a half.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1VH283

[Skidmore]

1. Why do I think that story has been sanitized?

Right. Handed him an expensive chunk of real estate for helping him lose 75 lbs?

[COLGATE4]

3. He lost the 75 pounds

a couple of ounces at a time, methinks.

[Nevilledog]

5. *snort*

[Maven]

6. LOL!

[SMC22307]

35. ...

[saidsimplesimon]

20. Yes, sanitized is polite.

What do I really think? Ah, who cares, I'm very angry with those who give a "pass" to corrupted religious leaders for profit. It gets old, tired and totally insane.

[Raster]

2. goodness...schtuping the poolboy and trainer???

He and the missus will probably be doing the gardener(s) next.

[malaise]

11. And I didn't even see your post

[Raster]

15. Great mind, my friend!

[EveHammond13]

4. this guy - is he leading a double life

[Perseus]

12. My thought exactly, and I thought I had read something like that

but not sure...

[malaise]

7. So we have both the pool boy and now the trainer

How evangelical!

[Docreed2003]

9. Lol! This!!!

[malaise]

10. Just the truth

[smirkymonkey]

25. If someone wrote a novel and put these details in it, it would get panned for being

too over-the-top and unbelievable! And this is probably only the tip of the iceberg!

[Blue_true]

28. I keep hearing references to it here.

What is the deal with the pool-boy thing?

[Maeve]

29. Try this

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-jerry-falwell-jr-miami-beach-pool-boy-evangelical-explained-850380/

In 2012, Falwell and his wife Becki visited the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. While there, they befriended a 21-year-old pool attendant named Giancarlo Granda. Granda soon began traveling with the Falwells, both to their home of Virginia to hike and water ski, according to the Times, and to the Cheeca Lodge in the Florida Keys, according to the Herald. The latter paper published photos of the trip to the Keys, with Granda smiling next to Falwell, the two looking like father and son. Just months after the friendship commenced, the Falwells offered to help Granda, who had practically no business experience, set up a venture in Miami. After consulting with his friend Jesus Fernandez Jr. and Fernandez’s father, they agreed to open a hostel. Falwell ponied up $1.8 million.

[malaise]

30. They say that knowledge about the pool boy in certain quarters

led to one hell of a fall in a well of an endorsement of one King Con of Israel

[SMC22307]

38. The pool boy is why we may have Fat Nixon as president.

Jerry Jr and the missus "befriended" a pool boy and helped him acquire pricey Miami real estate. The lucky lad is now attending grad school at Georgetown. The Falwell's initially endorsed Ted Cruz for president but suddenly switched their allegiance to Donald Trump. Evidently there are photos and someone on Team Trump put the screws to the Falwell's. Google Michael Cohen and Tom Arnold. Search for Miami Herald articles. It's one big sordid affair. But I do know this: there is no way Ted Cruz would have inspired the same sort of cult-like adoration that Trump did in 2016 beyond the nutty evangelicals.

(I think I've pieced that together right, there may be more...)

[Botany]

39. "Oh Jesus I'm Coming"

Does Falwell Jr like to watch his wife with the pool boy/trainer or does he
himself get involved?

Stolen from DUer Grins, "Christian grifters."

[malaise]

40. We should ask Michael Cohen

Clearly they knew something to get that endorsement

[Demovictory9]

8. OP Title made me laugh.

[Grins]

13. "Christian" grifters are the worst... NM

[ooky]

31. Yes. They would have elderly people on fixed budgets take out mortgages

on their homes to pay their tithes. Then take the money and use it to finance their lavish lifestyles.

[DeminPennswoods]

33. That happened to one of my neighbors

nt

[JCMach1]

14. Another dude? How Xtian of him to be so generous!

[Demovictory9]

17. this seems like a blackmail, extortion or Falwell is trapped for some info

from this young guy.

[Frustratedlady]

32. There was something about photos involving the Falwells and pool guy.

I don't know if the photos ever got out, but I kind of remember the three of them in one of those huts out in the water and some nudity, but that's about all my brain can locate.

The info was titillating enough to hold your interest, but no details. I think of that every time I see the ads for fancy resorts in the Caribbean.

[Leith]

16. Mkay....

?itemid=5296452

[tanyev]

18. Huh. Most fundies choose a metaphorical interpretation of "a man after your own heart".

[not_the_one]

42. I try not to be one of the grammar police

but I think you misspelled the word "hard".

[tanyev]

43. Heh.

[trof]

21. wuh..wuh..wait! CROSS WHITE? SERIOUSLY?

HMMM...

[edbermac]

22. Libertine University.

[dalton99a]

41. +1. Fucking scum

[Duncan Grant]

23. My guilty pleasure: evangelical scandals (ahem - shirtless)

Brittany Nicole Makeup

[lindysalsagal]

24. THIS GUY HAS A PERSONAL TRAINER??

Ooops. I was thinking of daddy-0, the bass-slinging rock star. Never mind.

[dawg day]

26. Good grief, another one???

Maybe this one is for him, and the pool boy is for the wife.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. New HBO show with John Goodman and Danny McBride called "The Righteous Gemstones"

deals with this in a very real, funny way.

The hypocrisy of male christian preachers is like nothing else in this world, the remarkable part of it is the millions who will follow them no matter what they do.

Reminds us of two Corinthians ...the single biggest living charlatan is LOVED by GOP

[Tanuki]

34. Speaking of two Corinthians....

Did you see this part of the Reuters article on the personal trainer affair?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-falwell-trainer-exclusive/exclusive-falwell-steered-liberty-university-land-deal-benefiting-his-personal-trainer-idUSKCN1VH283

..."During a visit by a reporter in August, Crosswhite, a muscular 31-year-old with short blond hair, was training a client in the well-equipped facility, running him through kettlebell swings and dumbbell presses. On a wall: A sign for “Crosswhite Fitness,” with a cross where the T should be, and a citation to a verse from the New Testament’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians.".....

[Eliot Rosewater]

36. Amazing, arent they

[UTUSN]

37. Is "fitness trainer" equivalent to the "pool boy"?!1