The Lincoln Project - the harborer of pedophiles.
The Lincoln Project, the anti-Donald Trump political outfit, imploded Friday evening amid mounting criticism of its handling of sexual misconduct allegations against one of its co-founders and of the management of its finances.
Steve Schmidt, a prominent political strategist and one of the original co-founders of the organization, on Friday evening became the latest in a string of departures from the group. In a lengthy statement, Schmidt said he was “incandescently angry” about allegations that former Lincoln Project leader John Weaver sent sexually explicit text messages to young men.
“I detest John Weaver in a way I can’t articulate,” wrote Schmidt, who in the statement divulged his own experiences of being molested when he was young. “My heart breaks that young men felt unseen and unheard in an organization that I started. I am ashamed of it.”
Also announcing their departures Friday were senior adviser Kurt Bardella and Nayyera Haq, who earlier this week signed on to host an online program for the organization. Tom Nichols, a foreign affairs columnist and professor, announced on Twitter that he was stepping down as an unpaid adviser. Jennifer Horn, a senior figure in the organization, resigned earlier in the month over the Lincoln Project’s handling of the Weaver accusations.
Ron Steslow and Mike Madrid, two other leaders, left in December. George Conway, a former Lincoln Project official and the husband of ex-Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway, has also stepped away from the outfit.
The Lincoln Project, which was made up of current and former Republican strategists who were stridently opposed to Trump, made a splash during the 2020 election. The organization aired hard-edged ads targeting the former president and his allies — some of them in starkly personal terms — and raked in more than $87 million in donations. Its senior officials — including Florida-based operative Rick Wilson and Schmidt — became cable news regulars.
But the organization’s downfall has been swift. The New York Times reported on Jan. 31 that more than 20 men had accused the 61-year-old Weaver, who served as a top strategist for the late Arizona Sen. John McCain and later worked on former Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s 2016 presidential bid, of sexually harassing them through online messages. In the days that followed, questions intensified about when Lincoln Project leaders first learned about the accusations and what they did to address them.
People familiar with the organization’s internal dynamics say specific complaints about Weaver’s conduct were brought to managers in the summer of 2020, though Schmidt has pushed back on those claims. In his Friday evening statement, Schmidt said that he “learned about John Weaver’s misconduct with an underage boy this past January.”