D'Souza, 51, fired up the crowd and received a "standing ovation and a long line at the book-signing table immediately afterward," Smith reported.

According to Smith, D'Souza, an Indian American who was raised Catholic and now identifies himself as a nondenominational Christian, "has been married for 20 years to his [44-year-old] wife, Dixie," was accompanied to the South Carolina event by "a young woman, Denise Odie Joseph II, and [he] introduced her to at least three people as his fiancée."

After the event, Tony Beam, one of the organizers, accompanied D'Souza and his fiancée to a room at the Comfort Suites. According to Smith, "Beam noted that they checked in together and were apparently sharing a room for the night in the sold-out hotel. The next morning, around 6 a.m., Beam arrived back at the hotel and called up to D'Souza's room. `We'll be down in 10 minutes,' D'Souza told Beam. D'Souza and Joseph came down together, and Beam took them to the airport."

When D'Souza was later confronted about the situation he claimed "nothing happened." D'Souza told Smith that "he shared a room" with Joseph, and that he was "engaged" to her. He also said that he had recently filed for divorce from his wife.

According to Smith's investigation, D'Souza did not file for divorce until October 4, the day he spoke with the World reporter. "Under California law, that starts the clock on a six-month waiting period for divorce. D'Souza on Oct. 4 told me his marriage was `over,' said he `is sure Denise is the one for me,' and said he had `done nothing wrong.'"

D'Souza has been a significant if not overwhelming player on the right for quite some time. Smith pointed out that D'Souza "developed a reputation among evangelicals with a string of best-sellers, including `The Roots of Obama's Rage,' which spawned" 2016: Obama's America, an anti-Obama documentary that has grossed more than $33 million, and is now in the second spot - trailing only Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 -- on the list of all-time grossing documentary films.

According to a press release by O.A.F., LLC, 2016, "has reached the top of the DVD charts on the day of its release, becoming the top selling movie at Amazon.com."

The Christian Post reported that Gerald Molen, the producer of 2016, told The Hollywood Reporter that people should give D'Souza and his wife "the space to deal with their personal matters."

"Their personal challenges have nothing to do with our film," said Molen. "We reject any attempts to use this sensitive personal matter in any way to discredit the film, which stands on its own."

World's Smith noted that D'Souza "broke into the Christian conference and megachurch market in 2007 with the release of a book that year, `What's So Great About Christianity'.... [and] now receives speaking fees sometimes in excess of $10,000 from Christian groups, putting him in the top tier of Christian speakers."

The King's College board issued a statement saying: "Until we complete this internal process we do not intend to publicly address any matters related to Mr. D'Souza and his relationship with the College. In the meantime, be assured we take seriously our charge to teach a compelling worldview rooted in the Bible and expect all of our leaders to model Christian character and integrity in their public and private lives. Our primary concern will always be for our students and we promise appropriate communication with them as quickly as we can do so responsibly."

The Christian Post reported that on D'Souza's fiancée's Facebook page she lists D'Souza, Ayn Rand, Pat Buchanan, Sen. Rand Paul and RonPaul.com, among her "favorites."

In light of the controversy, which has spurred an investigation by The King's College Board of Trustees, D'Souza said that he had "decided to suspend the engagement."
l