The far-left Associated Press released a bombshell Thursday claiming that going as far back as June, the leaders of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project knew all about multiple sexual misconduct allegations against its cofounder, John Weaver. The report also exposes the mind-boggling fact that of the $90 million the left-wing group raised, “more than $50 million has gone to firms controlled by the group’s leaders.”
In June 2020, members of the organization’s leadership were informed in writing and in subsequent phone calls of at least 10 specific allegations of harassment against co-founder John Weaver, including two involving Lincoln Project employees, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the situation. The email and phone calls raise questions about the Lincoln Project’s statement last month that it was “shocked” when accusations surfaced publicly this year. It’s also the first known suggestion that Weaver targeted a Lincoln Project staffer.
Despite the early warning, the group took no action against Weaver and pressed forward with its high-profile work. For the collection of GOP consultants and former officials, being anti-Trump was becoming very good for business. Of the $90 million Lincoln Project has raised, more than $50 million has gone to firms controlled by the group’s leaders.
And that’s the least of it.
The AP doesn’t use the words slush fund, but holy moly… Of the $90 million collected from left-wing suckers, only $27 million went towards its stated goal of political advertising. The rest? Well, per the AP, that “leaves tens of millions of dollars that went toward expenses like production costs, overhead — and exorbitant consulting fees collected by members of the group.”
A full $27 million — the same amount spent on actual advertising — went to a firm controlled by the Lincoln Project’s own Reed Galen, a former adviser to failed presidential candidate John McCain (who was a war hero). Another $21 million went to a firm run by the Lincoln Project’s own Ron Steslow.
The Lincoln Project refuses to disclose salaries paid to its cabal of enablers and grifters, but the AP does point out that cofounder Steve Schmidt and others “used the money earned … to refinance homes, or purchase a new one.”
For example, Schmidt, who ran the failed presidential campaign for John McCain (who was a war hero), “purchased a $1.4 million ‘Mountain Modern’ custom home in Kamas, Utah, with five bedrooms, seven baths and a ‘stunning’ view of the Uinta Mountains.”
He’s now trying to flip that house for $2.9 million.
As far as knowledge of the sexual harassment allegations against Weaver, which Weaver basically acknowledged in a statement last month, the way the AP tells is, pretty much everyone at Lincoln Project knew months before the organization said it did, and no one did anything. Weaver stayed on until at least August.
Here’s the AP’s timeline, and while you read this, keep in mind, we’re talking about a man accused of grooming a 14-year-old boy…
All the way back in June, Steslow received an email “detailing numerous cases of sexual harassment involving Weaver that spanned several years.” Steslow took it to Galen (who has since resigned) and also to the Lincoln Project’s attorney. In phone calls made in June and August with Lincoln Project leaders, employees were told the matter would be investigated.
Weaver finally took a leave in August, months after that June email. But even after his leave, after a decade of financial problems, it looks like he was still grifting the big bucks:
Over the past decade, Weaver has repeatedly failed to pay taxes, defaulted on loans and faced lawsuits from creditors seeking to collect. In October, he paid off $313,000 in back taxes owed to the IRS dating back to 2011, records show. A separate case in Texas is still pending over $340,000 back rent his family owes after shuttering a children’s boutique they operated, records show.
Yes, you read that correctly… a “children’s boutique.”
Lincoln Project also failed to protect its own employees. At least two staffers say they were targeted by Weaver.
Despite all this, less than two weeks ago, and only after the far-left New York Times published the allegations, the Lincoln Project grifters claimed to be “shocked and sickened” by the news.
Yeah, news they knew about in June and did nothing about.
At the time, Schmidt also told the Times this: “There was no awareness or insinuations of any type of inappropriate behavior when we became aware of the chatter at the time.”
Even at the time, though, everyone knew Lincoln Project’s denial was a lie because the American Conservative’s Ryan Girdusky blew the story open weeks earlier. So, at the very least, all the enablers listed above, along with Rick Wilson and George Conway (aka Father of the Year), had to have known weeks before the Times story landed, and still, they refused to separate from Weaver. Now it looks as though they were officially informed all the way back in June.
So why are the far-left AP and New York Times exposing their ideological allies in Lincoln Project like this?
First off, with his own reporting, Girdusky forced everyone’s hand. Secondly, and even though Weaver’s alleged predations have been an open secret for decades, now that Trump’s out of office, Lincoln Project is seen as expendable.
Everyone in the political establishment was a-okay with Weaver’s alleged predations until it became public and he became expendable.
If the political and media establishment believe you’re useful, you can prey on all the kids you want.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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