The disgraced hate-Trump Lincoln Project took another hit with the resignation of a founder who says the group’s homosexual stalking scandal is too much for her to bear.
But leaders of the project say that’s bunk.
LP leaders say Jennifer Horn, a GOP “strategist,” did not resign because project founder John Weaver propositioned young men over Twitter, promising jobs in exchange for sex. LP says Horn quit because the outfit wouldn’t meet outrageous salary and other demands.
Either way, Horn’s departure is another embarrassment for the organization, which spent all of its advertising money during the last election to defeat Republicans, and hopes to wreck the career of anyone who worked for or with President Trump.
Big Bucks for Horn?
Horn quit the group after the New York Times divulged Weaver’s Twitter stalking, a story that followed conservative writer Ryan Gidursky’s revelations in the American Conservative.
Horn told the Times that Weaver’s “grotesque and inappropriate behavior, coupled with his longstanding deceptions concerning that behavior, are sickening.”
Continued Horn:
It is clear at this point that my views about how the Lincoln Project’s efforts are managed, and the best way to move the Lincoln Project forward into the future in the wake of these awful events, have diverged.
But Weaver’s perversions aren’t why Horn quit, the blacklisting outfit claimed on Twitter.
“Forty-eight hours ago, at a moment when the Lincoln Project was under attack from the Trump organization and their propaganda allies, Jennifer Horn, in written communication, requested from the Lincoln Project an immediate ‘signing bonus’ payment of $250,000 and a $40,000 per month consulting contract,” LP wrote.
What the “Trump organization and their propaganda allies” have to do with Weaver’s hitting on young men, LP didn’t explain. It did explain that Horn, in addition to all that money, demanded a much bigger portfolio:
This followed a Christmas Eve communication from Jennifer, where she demanded a board seat on the Lincoln Project, a television show, a podcast hosting assignment, and a staff to manage these endeavors. She also stated her goal was “to establish immediate and long-term financial security.”
These demands were unanimously rejected by the management committee and board.
We immediately accepted Jennifer Horn’s resignation from the Lincoln Project.
What Did Project Leaders Know?
Whatever the reason Horn quit, the project didn’t need more embarrassing publicity. Late last week in a long Twitter thread, a former intern described Weaver’s “incessant inquiring about my sex life.”
That was after 21 men told the Times that Weaver propositioned them, including a 19-year-old. Weaver, he said, began grooming him when he was 14.
Weaver had already confessed, and after Girdusky broke the story, he followed up with reports that LP leaders knew about Weaver’s dirty solicitations. So too, Girdusky claimed, did an editor at the Daily Beast.
But Girdusky isn’t the only source who claims LP leaders knew about Weaver’s activities.
A nugget buried deep in the Times exposé suggests that LP leaders were well aware. They knew from social media that the married father of two was two-timing his wife … with young men.
Reported the Times:
Steve Schmidt, a co-founder of the group, said its leaders had learned last summer from social media posts that Mr. Weaver, who has a wife and two children, might be involved in relationships with men, but emphasized, “There was no awareness or insinuations of any type of inappropriate behavior when we became aware of the chatter at the time.” Mr. Weaver denied the claims, Mr. Schmidt said in an interview.
In a live-streamed statement, project founder Rick Wilson, a particularly angry Never Trumper, unequivocally denounced Weaver, then added this: “It wasn’t that John was gay. I don’t care about that.”
If LP leaders didn’t know about Weaver’s predations, they must have been the only inside-the-Beltway Republicans who didn’t.
“Everyone knew for years what John was about,” tweeted HuffPo writer Yashar Ali.
GOP strategist Karl Rove told Newsweek that he knew about Weaver three decades ago.
If Rove knew, other Republicans had to have known, including plugged-in GOP pros such as those who ran the McCain and Kasich presidential campaigns — and the Never Trumpers who run the Lincoln Project.
