In emails to his colleagues over the years, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr has denigrated students and staff at the Christian university he runs, referring to one student as “emotionally imbalanced and physically retarded” and calling the school’s police chief a “half-wit,” Reuters reports.
He also called some Liberty students “social misfits.”
Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. told the Associated Press that he is asking the FBI to investigate what he called a “criminal” smear campaign orchestrated against him by several disgruntled former board members and employees.
Falwell claimed he has evidence that the group improperly shared emails belonging to the university with reporters in an attempt to discredit him. He said the “attempted coup” was partially motivated by his ardent backing of President Trump.
World Red Eye posts photos of Jerry Falwell Jr. partying at a Miami nightclub — photos that multiple Liberty University officials told Politico that Falwell “tried to make disappear.”
Falwell originally claimed the photos are fake.
“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,” Reuters reports.
“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.”
Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. denied to Fox Radio asking Michael Cohen to intervene in a case where someone reportedly claimed to possess racy “personal” photos that were potentially embarrassing to Falwell and his wife.
Falwell insisted that “no compromising or embarrassing photos” of himself existed.
He added: “While we have a long-standing friendship with Michael Cohen, we never engaged or paid Cohen to represent us in any legal or other professional capacity, and Cohen did not ever resolve any legal matter on our behalf.”
“Months before evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr.’s game-changing presidential endorsement of Donald Trump in 2016, Falwell asked Trump fixer Michael Cohen for a personal favor,” Cohen said in a recorded conversation reviewed by Reuters.
“Falwell, president of Liberty University, one of the world’s largest Christian universities, said someone had come into possession of what Cohen described as racy ‘personal’ photographs — the sort that would typically be kept ‘between husband and wife.'”
Said Cohen, without divulging specifics: “I actually have one of the photos. It’s terrible.”
Jerry Falwell Jr. told Politico that he urged President Trump to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions over his handling of investigations into Russian election meddling, saying the attorney general has lost evangelicals’ support.
Falwell also said he plans to bring up the subject again Monday evening at a small gathering with Trump and the first lady.
Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. urged students to carry concealed weapons on campus in the wake of the San Bernardino massacre, the News and Advance reports.
Said Falwell: “It just blows my mind when I see that the President of the United States says that the answer to circumstances like that is more gun control… I’ve always thought if more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in.”
He added: “Let’s teach them a lesson if they ever show up here.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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