Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., who was a titan in the Evangelical movement and an outspoken ally of President Donald Trump, has resigned from his post. The resignation comes after a sexual relationship between Falwell, his wife Becki and one of their business partners became public over the weekend.
The alleged nature of their relationship was revealed in a Reuters story on Wednesday. Their business partner, Giancarlo Granda, told the outlet that he was 20-years-old and working as a pool boy when he met the Falwells at a Miami hotel in 2012.
Granda said “Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room.”
In a phone call between the Granda, Jerry Falwell and Becki Falwell, the trio discuss Granda’s sex life and Jerry Falwell Jr. remarks “you’re gonna make her jealous Gian.”
In an exclusive @Reuters interview, a business partner of evangelical power couple Jerry and Becki Falwell says he had a sexual affair with them for years https://t.co/CCq99hpizy pic.twitter.com/AJIrKP7Zc3
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 25, 2020
In a lengthy statement, Jerry Falwell Jr. said that he was not involved in the relationship.
Falwell had previously taken a leave of absence from his role as president of Liberty University he posted a photo of himself and a young women with his pants unzipped. The university’s board said that they requested Falwell take a leave of absence from his position at the university that his father founded.
After the Reuters story on Monday, there were reports that Falwell had resigned from Liberty University, which he denied. However, on Monday night, he said that he had resigned, adding, “The board put me on leave, took away my duties as prez, and that’s not permitted by my contract. And they put me on leave because of pressure from self-righteous people.”
President Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen said that he helped bury salacious photos of Falwell before the Liberty University president endorsed Trump in 2016. That endorsement was seen as pivotal in strengthening the relationship between Trump and white evangelical Christian voters.