His biography is a lie of biblical proportions.
A South Carolina pastor and top Donald Trump surrogate has admitted that he lied about his military service and college education.
Mark Burns fessed up to the falsified biography — which incorrectly claimed that he served six years in the Army Reserve and earned a college degree from a local university — on his church’s website after a combative interview on CNN.
“As a young man starting my church in Greenville, S.C., I overstated several details of my biography because I was worried I wouldn’t be taken seriously as a new pastor,” Burns, who routinely introduces Trump at rallies and events, told the network in a statement.
“This was wrong.”
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“I thought we were doing a profile, and all of the sudden you’re here to try to destroy my character,” he barked.
The website for Burns’ Harvest Praise & Worship Center — including his lie-filled biography — has since been removed.
Burns had written that he spent six years in the Army Reserve, but military records show no such service. He did, however, serve in the South Carolina National Guard and was discharged in 2008.
The pastor also claimed to have a Bachelor of Science from North Greenville University. However, school officials said he never graduated from the college. In fact, he only attended classes for one semester.
When Blackwell brought up the fabrications, Burns immediately claimed he thought they were speaking off the record. When the host said he never agreed to that, Burns barked back that was not what he understood.
Burns also tried to claim his church’s website had “obviously” been hacked — but site host Wix said there was no evidence of a security breech.
The pastor abruptly got up and walked away from the interview set, effectively ending the conversation. Later, he released his apology to CNN.
Burns frequently appears at Trump rallies and spoke at the Republican National Convention in July.
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