The interview with Clayton followed a CNN investigation into the case of Melvin Novak, who was sexually abused by his scoutmaster, a member of the Mormon Church, beginning when he was 14 years old in 1998, according to the lawsuit Novak filed against the church and the Boy Scouts of America.

The scoutmaster, Vance Hein, had been forced in resign from scouting in the early 1990s after reports surfaced that he failed to report a fellow scoutmaster who was engaged in homosexual activities. That scoutmaster ended up going to prison for sexual assaults on minors.

Hein’s name was added to the Boy Scouts of America’s ineligible volunteer files, which are widely known as the “perversion files.” The documents, which were made public in 2012, are lists of scout leaders suspected of sexual abuse or homosexual activity.

However, three years after being kicked out of scouting, Hein was allowed to rejoin the scouts after getting letters of recommendation attesting to his character. One of those letters was from Hein’s influential Mormon Bishop Jack Moyer, who wrote that Hein was “highly respected and liked.”

Moyer, who is now retired, declined to speak to CNN. But in a deposition taken as part of the lawsuit last year, he acknowledged that he would not have written the letter knowing what he later found out about Hein.

The lawsuit charged that Hein “actively groomed young boys under his charge for later sexual molestation.” Hein eventually was convicted of molesting Novak. He is now in prison for violating probation in the Novak case.

Ken Rothweiler, who is Novak’s lawyer, said what happened in the case is outrageous.

“This case is probably the most egregious of all of the cases against the LDS church, and the reason I say that is because the LDS church knew that Vance Hein, this pedophile, was already kicked out of scouting by the Boy Scouts of America,” Rothweiler said.

However, church attorney David Pittinsky said it was the Boy Scouts organization that should have done something.

“If the Boy Scouts had disclosed to Bishop Moyer the information they had in their files, there is no way that Vance Hein would have ever become a scoutmaster, and he would have been subject to excommunication by the church,” Pittinsky said.

In a statement to CNN, the Boy Scouts of America said Hein was removed from scouting “for reasons unrelated to child abuse.” The group added, “Our efforts to protect youth were plainly insufficient, inappropriate or wrong. We extend our deepest apologies to victims and their families.”