Last week, End Times pastor Paul Begley appeared on "The Hagmann Report," where he stood by his claim that First Lady Melania Trump had ordered the White House to be "completely exorcised" before she moved in.
After Begley made this claim earlier this month, the story was widely circulated among those who saw it as a sign of President Trump's growing Christian faith, which eventually prompted the Associated Press to contact the White House for comment, forcing the first lady's office to declare that Begely's claim was "not true in any way."
But Begley is standing by his claim and insisting that the AP's story denying the exorcism is "fake news."
"The lamestream, mainstream fake news media tried to say that that was fake news or that there was no—I think they said the White House, Melania Trump's spokeswoman said there was no 'exorcism' in the White House," Begley said. "There may not have been a, quote, 'exorcism' in the White House, but they didn't say that they didn't remove all of the idols, all the relics, all the witchcraft, all the voodoo, all of the things that were in there. They are not going to tell you those weren't removed because, believe me, they were."
Begley says that he knows that this happened because he heard it directly from someone who was involved in removing these items at the behest of the first lady, but insists that he will never reveal that person's identity because of pastoral privilege.
"We are back to The New York Times, the Washington Post and some of the others who are saying, 'Alright, Pastor Begley won't reveal his source because you know it's not true,'" Begley said. "It is true. And here is the deal, when you remove the idols that are used, chargeable objected ... when you remove these from your house or from your dwelling place, the demons go with it. It's an exorcism!"