The disgraced Lincoln Project took two more hits late this week when key founder Steve Schmidt resigned. And six former employees sought release from the non-disclosure agreements they signed as a condition for employment.
Other project associates quit too, and the besieged, hate-Trump blacklisting group might also become ensnared in a federal law enforcement probe. Two sources told New York writer Yashar Ali that FBI agents are investigating cofounder John Weaver, whose solicitations of young men on Twitter triggered the explosion that sent the project up in flames. One of his targets was a 14-year-old boy whom he stalked for years.
The group tweeted attacks on a founder and a reporter that contain hacked material and might violated federal law, Ali reported.
The latest bad news for the project followed two devastating reports this week. They show that project founders knew about Weaver’s predation and did nothing, and lined their pockets with millions of dollars.
Resignations
Schmidt quit the group, he wrote in a four-page statement, because a homosexual molested him when he was a kid. As well, the project needs a woman board member.
Schmidt detailed the typical homosexual molestation. He’s been angry and depressed ever since. On top of that, the sex scandal in the Catholic Church has caused him to convert to Judaism.
Schmidt repeated his claim of ignorance about Weaver, and said his anger got the best of him:
During these last weeks, I have been consumed by anger and rage as I have seen the attacks from the rancid collection of liars, thugs and fascists, including Donald Trump Jr. and Laura Ingraham, attack the Lincoln Project, my character and the character of my friends over John Weaver’s amoral predations.
He apologized to project cofounder Jennifer Horn, who resigned because of the Weaver scandal. Project founders protested that she quit over a financial dispute, a claim Horn called “patently false,” the New York Times reported.
“I let my anger turn a business dispute into a public war that has distracted from the fight against American fascism,” he wrote of the dispute with Horn.
The upshot of the letter is this: Schmidt is claiming #MeToo status and virtue signaling about women to get sympathy.
“Presently, the Lincoln Project board is made up of four middle-aged white men,” he wrote:
That composition doesn’t reflect our nation, nor our movement. I am resigning my seat on the Lincoln Project board to make room for the appointment of a female board member as the first step to reform and professionalize the Lincoln Project.
“I’m tired,” Schmidt wrote.
Also quitting the group, Axios reported, were three others: spokesman Kurt Bardella, Atlantic writer Tom Nichols, and Nayyera Haq.
Letter From Employees
Meanwhile, six anonymous employees have demanded release from their non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), the Times reported.
Citing recent news reports, the six wrote, “we call on the remaining leadership of the Lincoln Project to release us and all others from all Non Disclosure Agreements (or other contracts), without precondition.”
The six are ready to talk about the harassment they are alleging by Weaver, but not to project leaders:
In a statement, The Lincoln Project requested that those seeking to be released from NDAS “should contact The Lincoln Project.” Expecting victims and those close to victims to contact and engage the people and organization accused of protecting the very predator at issue is absurd, unreasonable, and insensitive.
And given recent news reports, “we lack any confidence in the organization’s remaining leadership to properly handle our allegations of (or knowledge of) sexual harassment and sexual assault by John Weaver. Additionally, we have reasonable fear of retaliation.”
Hacking, FBI Probe
Another difficulty facing the hate-Trump group is explaining why it tweeted personal messages hacked from Horn’s Twitter account. The project attacked Horn and a reporter in the tweets.
“Lincoln Project tweeted out a thread that appeared to contain screenshots from their former partner @NHJennifer’s account,” Ali tweeted Thursday. Ali included screen shots of the project’s since deleted tweets:
Unclear how they got access to them
These exchanges were with journalist @AmandaBecker
They have deleted the thread but here are screenshots
Someone at the project was mighty worried. “The Lincoln Project started deleting their thread when @gtconway3d said that it appeared to be a violation of federal law,” Ali wrote.
“This looks on its face to be a violation of federal law and should be taken down immediately,” cofounder George Conway tweeted.
Trump foe Conway also quit the group and claims complete ignorance of Weaver’s stalking.
Schmidt apologized for the breach in his resignation letter.
“Yesterday, I was shown correspondence between Jennifer Horn and Amanda Becker, a reporter at The 19th News,” he wrote:
I was told it came from an anonymous source. That direct message should never have been made public. It is my job as the senior leader to accept responsibility for the tremendous misjudgment to release it.
On Substack, Ali reported that the FBI is probing Weaver.
“The FBI is investigating allegations against longtime GOP political consultant and Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver, according to two sources who said they were contacted by FBI agents,” Ali wrote:
Those sources told me the agents inquired whether Weaver ever touched them inappropriately or sent or requested sexually explicit material when they were underage.
The FBI asking potential witnesses about allegations of illegal conduct does not necessarily mean that someone is the subject or a target of a federal investigation. It’s also unclear what the scope of the FBI’s inquiry is; the sources who spoke to me said the questions they were asked were narrow in scope.
Two more reports this week about the scandal added more proof that project leaders knew about Weaver’s homosexual stalking. The Associated Press divulged that more than half the $90 million the project raised went to companies the founders controlled.
Conservative writer Ryan Girdusky broke the Weaver story in The American Conservative.
