WASHINGTON – Influential anti-Donald Trump group Lincoln Project denounces one of its co-founders after multiple reports that he sexually harassed young men who wanted to break into politics for several years.
The Lincoln Project in a statement on Sunday called co-founder John Weaver, 61, “a predator, a liar and an abuser” after reports that he repeatedly sent unsolicited and sexually charged messages to young men online, often while suggesting he could help them get work in politics.
“The totality of its deceptions exceed anything we could ever have imagined and we are absolutely shocked and sick of it,” said the Lincoln Project, the most prominent Republican super PAC of ‘Never Trump’ who entered the White during the 45th presidency. House, said in his statement.
Weaver did not immediately respond to requests for comment from NBC News and The Associated Press.
The online magazine The American Conservative first reported the allegations of sexual harassment earlier this month.
Days later, Weaver, a strategist who advised the late Republican Senator John McCain and former Ohio Governor John Kasich in their unsuccessful search for the White House, acknowledged in a statement to the Axios website that he had sent “inappropriate” messages he considered “At the time. as two-way two-way conversations. “
Weaver’s statement came after several men took to social media to accuse him of sending sexually suggestive messages, sometimes in conjunction with offers for work or political advancement.
The Lincoln Project made its most substantive comments on the mounting allegations against Weaver after The New York Times reported Sunday that the paper had interviewed 21 men who said they had been harassed by Weaver.
One of the alleged victims told The Times that he started receiving messages from Weaver when he was only 14. The messages became clearer after he turned 18.
The other founders of the Lincoln Project included Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential adviser Stuart Stevens, former McCain and George W. Bush strategist Steve Schmidt, and Rick Wilson, the creator of GOP ads.
The group produced some of the most devastating broadsides against Trump throughout the 2020 election cycle, questioning the morality and leadership of the president and his aides.
The Lincoln Project said in its statement that “John Weaver was never in the physical presence of any member” of the super PAC.
Weaver took medical leave from the Lincoln Project last summer. He told Axios earlier this month that he had no intention of returning to the group.
Rebecca Shabad contributed.