Despite denials by Lincoln Project, some in leadership knew of their partner, John Weaver’s predatory behavior in June of 2020. According to reporting by the Associated Press, Lincoln Project co-founder, Ron Steslow was informed of numerous incidents of sexual harassment by Weaver. Steslow took the issue to Reed Galen, the original founder of the super PAC, the Rough Riders, that later became the Lincoln Project.
In August, after Weaver left Lincoln Project for health reasons, reporters reached out to the Lincoln Project for comment on Weaver’s predatory behavior. The Washington Blade obtained internal communications that showed Mike Madrid and Keith Edwards discussed strategy on how to respond.
Steve Schmidt attempted to downplay Madrid’s role at the Lincoln Project, declaring, “Mike isn’t the leader. Mike’s not making decisions.” But according to a major donor, Madrid is “the numbers guy” and was often on their conference calls. In fact, FEC records show Madrid’s LLC was paid over $1.5 million last year.
These revelations make the Lincoln Project’s recent strongly worded repudiation of Weaver ring hollow.
Now six former employees are asking to be released from their nondisclosure agreements to be able to discuss the subject. They were compelled to come forward after Lincoln Project’s attack on Jennifer Horn, a co-founder who resigned last week. Schmidt claimed Horn left over financial reasons. She claims that is “patently false” and that she left after learning about Weaver’s predatory behavior.
The Lincoln Project continued their attack on Horn last night. They posted tweets with screenshots of private messages between Horn and a reporter. It is unknown how they accessed the messages. Horn claims she did not give them consent to access and post the messages. The tweets were deleted soon after George Conway pointed out they could be in violation of federal laws.
It’s not like we didn’t know who these people were. Joan McCarter spelled out out very clearly in her September 2020 article, Beware Republicans bearing gifts:
The cadre of never-Trumper Republicans just keeps growing. There's the Lincoln Project. There's Republican Voters Against Trump. There's Right Side PAC. There's 43 Alumni for Biden Super PAC. What do they have in common? They all helped build the Republican Party that chose Donald Trump. They all sat back—and even participated!—in the systematic push in the Republican Party toward white supremacy, toward authoritarianism, toward fascism. They also all have a vested interest in trying to make the nation forget that they're responsible for this monster. We can't let them.
They ignored the dog whistles of Ronald Reagan and his "law and order" campaigns. They pretended like they were just there for the fiscal conservatism. They didn't worry at all about the illegal sale of arms to Iran for hostages, or the running of a secret war in Central America, in which their next president, George H.W. Bush, was neck-deep. They were there when George W. Bush lied the nation into a disastrous war, when he and Dick Cheney broke the law and the Constitution with their warrantless surveillance of Americas. With torture. They were there while Bush and Cheney elevated voter suppression to an art.
They were there, helping John McCain along, when he chose right-wing extremist Sarah Palin as his running mate. They created the Tea Party and they were there while the Republican Party descended into full-on racism, fighting against every move made by President Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president. (Fighting against him largely because he’s Black.) They created the Federalist Society, the organization behind the takeover of the federal courts by Mitch McConnell and Trump.
Campaign finance experts like Rob Pyers of CA Target Book also tried to warn about their questionable finances. He often tweeted out data showing their outrageous payments to companies owned by Lincoln Project members. Federal Election Commission disclosures show the Lincoln Project raised $87 million while only spending $49 million on Independent Expenditures. And only $27 million of that went to buying ad time. About $50 million of their total spending went to firms owned by Lincoln Project members.
During the period after the November election through the January 5th election in Georgia they raised approximately $12 million, but only spent $1.2 million on the Georgia races.
The Lincoln Project was well-funded by Democratic voters looking to oust Trump. How much they helped is debatable, but the mission has been accomplished. Now that they have shown their true colors, maybe it is time to turn off the spigot. Let them fade away like Michael Avenatti and the other #resistance grifters.
UPDATE: Steve Schmidt has resigned from the Lincoln Project. Axios may have overstated Schmidt’s resignation. It appears he may only be resigning his seat on the board. But others are resigning today; spokesperson Kurt Bardella, Nayyera Haq who just joined the group this week, and Tom Nichols is "stepping down as an unpaid advisor."
UPDATE: The article by the reporter that Lincoln Project attacked last night has been posted. It is damning. h/t to Arilca Mockingbird.