Lincoln Project denounces co-founder John Weaver as a ‘predator’ after sexting claims
- More than 20 men have accused Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver of harassment
- One alleged victim said he started receiving text messages from Weaver when he was 14
The influential anti-Donald Trump group Lincoln Project is denouncing one of its co-founders after multiple reports that over several years he sexually harassed young men looking to break into politics.
The Lincoln Project in a statement on Sunday called co-founder John Weaver, 61, “a predator, a liar, and an abuser” following reports that he repeatedly sent unsolicited and sexually charged messages online to young men, often while suggesting he could help them get work in politics.
“The totality of his deceptions are beyond anything any of us could have imagined and we are absolutely shocked and sickened by it,” the Lincoln Project, the most prominent “Never Trump” Republican super PAC to emerge during the 45th president’s time in the White House, said in its statement.
The online magazine The American Conservative first reported the sexual harassment allegations earlier January.
Days later, Weaver, a strategist who advised the late Republican senator John McCain and former Ohio governor John Kasich in their unsuccessful runs for the White House, acknowledged in a statement to Axios that he had sent “inappropriate” messages he “viewed as consensual, mutual conversations at the time”.
The statement by Weaver came after several men had taken to social media to accuse him of sending sexually suggestive messages, sometimes coupled with offers of employment or political advancement.