How the sex scandal of televangelist and now Trump fan Jim Bakker wound up in Phoenix

Disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker crawled out of a crack in the national baseboard recently to declare that Christians must “love” Donald Trump.

“You know what? Trump is a test whether you’re even saved. Only saved people can love Trump,” Bakker said.

Not only did his ludicrous statement light up the internet, it reminded us that in the late 1980s Baker was exposed for having manipulated a 21-year-old church secretary into having sex with him and later convicted of 24 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy.

The scandal brought down what then was the powerful evangelical Praise the Lord (PTL) empire.

Bakker wound up in prison and the church secretary, Jessica Hahn, wound up in the pages of Playboy magazine and, eventually, on a Phoenix radio station.

Yes. Here.

The former church secretary arrives

There were times then, as there are now, when our desert paradise sometimes feels like the low-lying culvert into which the nation drains its scandalous waste.

I was at the press conference in August 1988 when the radio station introduced Hahn as the newest member of their morning show.

She walked into the press conference wearing a short, white-leather skirt, high heels that were very white and very high, and a white T-shirt with the logo of the radio station.

A few months later, in December of that same year, after the radio station dumped her, Hahn agreed to speak with me.

On that day, she answered the door of the place she was staying (under an assumed name) wearing a black bathrobe and a pair of white socks.

''I'm sorry it took me so long to get the door,'' she said,

''I was going to get dressed when 'Hef' (Hugh Hefner) called. He and Kimberly (Hefner's fiancé) want me to come to the mansion for a rest. I'm not going to. But it was sweet of him to offer, don't you think? Anyway, I hope you don't mind the robe. I live in a robe when I'm at home.''

A #MeToo experience before #MeToo

She was 29 at the time. She tried to use the fame that was thrust upon her, admitted to having made mistakes, but knew that her encounter with Bakker would haunt her.

Hahn’s abuse was a #MeToo moment before the #MeToo movement.

She asked me that day in 1988 whether I’d seen Johnny Carson's show the night before, or the previous week’s Saturday Night Live.

''They both used me in jokes,'' she said. ''That's my life. A comedy routine.''

Then she laughed.

''What are your plans for the holidays?'' I asked her.

''On Thanksgiving, I was alone,'' she said. ''I didn't mind. I mean it. It was rainy and cozy, and I worked that night. People say, 'Jessica Hahn, she's got it made.' But I worked.

''Christmas? I don't know. That's a few days before I have to leave. And like I said, I'd like nothing more than to stay right here. I'm tired of packing and unpacking.''

But that is what she did for a number of years.

Bakker was convicted in 1989 and released from prison in 1994.

Hahn never quite got a reprieve.

Ironically, Hahn now supports Trump

She is in her late 50s, now, married and living on a ranch with her stunt man husband.

She recently told The Charlotte Observer, “People used to say, ‘Jessica, you kept quiet for eight years. Why?’ Well, there were a million reasons. These women coming out now – there were a million reasons. ... It’s like the power position is abused in every lifestyle, whether it’s politics, religion or business.”

She said of those dealing with abuse, “If somebody’s hurting you, you’ve got to come out and say something because they’ll keep doing it. Because they think they’re above you and better than you. That’s not the truth. And it will affect your life if you don’t. It will affect you later on in life.”

Jim Bakker, the sleazy criminal evangelist who took advantage of a young Jessica Hahn, says God told him, ‘I put Donald Trump on earth to give you time, the church, to get ready.’ (For end times.)”

He says the faithful must “love Trump,” as if such a man knows anything about faith.

Ironically (or is it incongruously, or paradoxically, or inexplicably?), Jessica Hahn is known to sport MAGA gear. She is a fan of Fox News.

And, yes, a big supporter of Donald Trump.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.