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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.”

The Lincoln Project released a statement earlier in the week
saying that it was retaining a "best-in-class outside
professional to review Mr. Weaver's tenure with the
organization."

Weaver, who is married with a wife and two children, has
acknowledged sending "inappropriate" messages to men.

Then, on Thursday, the Associated Press reported that more than
half of the organization’s funding had been directed to
consulting firms that had been controlled by Lincoln Project
officials — a massive sum that fed accusations that leaders had
enriched themselves. The crisis intensified later in the day,
when the Lincoln Project’s Twitter feed posted screenshots of
private online messages between Horn and Amanda Becker, a
reporter for 19th News who had been working on a story about the
organization’s work culture.

The Lincoln Project deleted the screenshot, but not before
sparking intense backlash. Schmidt apologized for the episode in
his statement, saying, "it is my job as the senior leader to
accept responsibility for the tremendous misjudgment to release”
the messages.

The Lincoln Project’s funders have begun distancing themselves.
Senate Majority PAC, the top Democratic outside group focused on
Senate races, and Majority Forward, an affiliated nonprofit,
gave $1.9 million to Lincoln Project in October, at the height
of the election. Lincoln Project had been spending on ads
against GOP senators, including in critical races in South
Carolina and Maine.

J.B. Poersch, the president of Senate Majority PAC, said in a
statement that his organization would not work with Lincoln
Project in the future amid the allegations of harassment and
other wrongdoing that have emerged.

"In October, 2020 Senate Majority Pac and Majority Forward
supplemented a small set of Lincoln Project advertising in
Senate campaign states,” Poersch said in the statement. “Current
allegations regarding Lincoln Project's operation raises
alarming questions. Given the weight of these allegations, SMP
will not work with Lincoln Project in the future."

James Arkin contributed to this report.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/12/lincoln-project-scandal-
468984

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