Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt resigned in the wake of the John Weaver scandal.

[Update: This post was submitted in error. The title was supposed to say "Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt resigned after in the wake of the John Weaver scandal, citing the 21 men who are alleging that Weaver groomed them believing that one of the victims was his son.]<br><br>Last night, the New York Times burst the bubble that many of us have been trying to pop for the last year. "Weaver attended the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Republican Conventions, joined John McCain’s 2000 run for president in the general election and met his future business partners at those events. "The fact that Weaver is gay was an open secret in Washington, where he had advised a number of high-profile politicians, including John Weaver and Christine Todd Whitman." <br><br>Despite knowing that he was gay and being very skilled at hiding that in the age of the internet, he was still able to very easily hide his true nature as a sick, sick man who groomed young men. 21 men have come forward to detail a multi-year pattern of sexual abuse that started on twitter, with the exchanges eventually turning sexual in nature. <br><br>When the news first broke a month ago, I was skeptical that Weaver had groomed anyone until one of the victims details in the NYT story were confirmed. The victim was a 14 year old boy, the same age as Weaver's son when he was approached. The boy's family was conservative and religious, which Weaver seemed to seek out. The boy made clear he was in High School and that he was only 14, but Weaver continued to remain in contact. The victim did not send any pictures, so he is only alleging that Weaver groomed him. Weaver's other victims sent him explicit pictures and he sent them explicit pictures in return, and he even had sex in person with some of them. One of the boys that Weaver groomed was 15 when Weaver approached him. <br><br>Weaver's colleagues were aware that this was going on for years in part because they shared a suite at the 2012 Republican Convention. "The fact that Mr. Weaver’s behavior was an open secret belies the shock of his former colleagues." "I think everyone knew. He’s a f—ing piece of shit,” said a former associate granted anonymity because of a nondisclosure agreement." "Some former colleagues of Mr. Weaver’s became suspicious as his messages were marked as “aggressive.”" <br><br>The Lincoln Project has in recent days acknowledged that they were aware of 11 allegations against Weaver in mid-January, and they decided to wait a week before they forced Weaver out. "“At all points in time, we sought to do the right thing,” said Ms. Horn. But the group did not alert the authorities or his accusers at that point. Nor did they launch an internal investigation independent of their lawyers. “There really wasn’t anything to investigate,” said Mr. Galen, the group’s co-founder and director. “At that point, John had already stepped down from the company. We thought that was it.” But the group’s leaders accepted Mr. Weaver’s resignation without actually speaking to him. “No one on the board ever talked to John Weaver,” acknowledges Ms. Horn."<br><br>Weaver's colleagues were aware that this was going on for years in part because they shared a suite at the 2012 Republican Convention. "The fact that Mr. Weaver’s behavior was an open secret belies the shock of his former colleagues." "I think everyone knew. He’s a f—ing piece of shit,” said a former associate granted anonymity because of a nondisclosure agreement." "Some former colleagues of Mr. Weaver’s became suspicious as his messages were marked as “aggressive.”” <br><br>Schmidt rushed to accept Weaver's resignation from the Lincoln Project without actually speaking to Weaver. “No one on the board ever talked to John Weaver,” acknowledges Schmidt.<br><br>With Weaver gone, the Lincoln Project tried to mitigate the damage by having Schmidt throw his former business and personal friend under the bus in a statement. They tried to pretend like they were unaware of Weaver's actions which they knew was a lie. "To the victims: The members and the board of The Lincoln Project condemn in the strongest possible terms these disgusting and heartless actions. John Weaver’s betrayal of everybody in the Lincoln Project is beyond despicable. They knew they were lying because they were warned in the summer of 2020. "Lincoln Project leaders were warned last summer about sexual misconduct allegations against co-founder John Weaver but “had done nothing” with the information, according to a source familiar with the situation."<br><br>In addition, the Lincoln Project continued to deceive the public by highlighting their knowledge of Weaver's sexuality in a weak attempt to say that they were not aware of Weaver's other activities. They even went so far as to say that sexual abuse is a partisan issue, as if many Democrats are not upset over this. "Because of his deception, John Weaver’s addition to the board is being retroactively rescinded. The Lincoln Project’s effort to protect democracy is unrelenting, and today we are continuing with that effort. We are the same people today as we were before. We are still committed to Lincoln’s darling idea, government of the people by the people for the people shall not perish from the Earth. And we are still committed to destroying the Republican Party that has failed this country so badly." <br><br>But they in fact are not the same people today as they were before. Last night, co-founder Steve Schmidt resigned from the group and from the board. "No Lincoln Project employee, intern, or vendor ever informed me of these abhorrent allegations prior to the publishing of the story in the jan 15th article. The first contemporary awareness I or anybody at The Lincoln Project had of these allegations occurred on January 9th of this year, when I was informed about allegations in articles that were about to be published. At that time, I immediately called John Weaver and asked him if there were any truth to this. John said that the allegations were untrue. He said in the strongest terms, the allegations were untrue. <br><br>When the story broke, the Lincoln project immediately sought to determine if John Weaver had ever abused his relationship with any younger associates that he had mentored or worked with in a professional capacity as a colleague or as a vendor. This includes former employees, independent contractors, freelancers, vendors, as well as people in high school and collegeLincoln project mentored believing that they were in high school and college. <br><br>When the story broke, the Lincoln project immediately sought to determine if John Weaver had ever abused his relationship with any younger associates that he had mentored or worked with in a professional capacity as a colleague or as a vendor. This includes former employees, independent contractors, freelancers, vendors, as well as people in high school and collegeLincoln project mentored believing that they were in high school and college. <br><br>At first, believing Weaver's lie, the Lincoln Project stated "The totality of his passwords indicate that there were no Lincoln project colleagues or employees who were ever put in harm’s way." They also stated "There is no employee, there is no former employee, there is no intern and no person that ever worked with John Weaver at the Lincoln project who was in harm in the way."<br><br>But within a few hours, a former employee of the Lincoln Project came forward with a different story. This former employee was a 19 year old when Weaver forced him out of the Lincoln Project after he rejected Weaver's advances. “It was tough to find out that basically everything he told me about me working there and what I had done was all just a lie, designed to get what he wanted,” he said.<br><br>At that point, the Lincoln Project was forced to backtrack, accepting what they knew all along, that John Weaver abused his position to begin inappropriate sexual relationships. “John Weaver’s twisted, abhorrent personal conduct, if proved true, is antithetical to The Lincoln Project’s mission to promote a more perfect Union for all Americans regardless of background or identity. John Weaver concealed his actual behavior from employees and colleagues and made false statements, many of which have been publicized in recent days.”<br><br>After they were forced to backtrack, the Lincoln Project went into damage control mode. They hired an outside law firm to investigate the matter and determine the scope of the abuse that they were already familiar with. They also began reviewing John Weaver's old messages. <br><br>The Lincoln Project's review of Weaver's messages make clear that he hid his abuse in plain sight by using code words in his messages. Weaver's colleagues were so oblivious to his abuse that in the middle of his abuse of these boys, they gave him a promotion. “Weaver’s colleagues were taken aback by the revelation last month that he allegedly harassed and made unsolicited explicit overtures to more than 20 men, many of whom were much younger and at least two of whom were still teenagers at the time. The episode has roiled the influential super PAC’s ranks and sparked an internal reckoning.” <br><br>The coverage of the scandal was a reckoning for the Lincoln Project, and in the end it was too much for Weaver's longtime colleague and close, close friend Steve Schmidt, a married father of three. Schmidt's resignation was the first in a wave of resignations. He resigned from the board "after a sweeping barrage of negative stories stemming from sexual allegations against the group’s co-founder John Weaver and his handling of those allegations."<br><br>The “drumbeat” of media inquiries prompted Schmidt to step down and the board to adopt a more conciliatory approach to handling the scandal. Before his resignation, Schmidt was taking the reigns of the Lincoln Project and was leading the charge to defend the group against the allegations. “It’s called the Lincoln Project, so it’s not like they’re hiding the fact that they’re imperialists,” Collier explained. “They can’t be in the shadows anymore as propagandists. They have