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   From: dirty-whore-harris@nytimes.com   
      
   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-   
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