Anti-Trump Super PAC Lincoln Project co-founder Jennifer Horn just resigned after citing “grotesque and inappropriate behavior” from one of her co-founders, John Weaver. More than 20 men, ranging from teenagers to young adults, have come forward in accusing Weaver of sending unsolicited and graphically sexual messages, along with dangling professional prospects in front of them in exchange for sex.
“Upon careful consideration, I have terminated my relationship with the Lincoln Project, effective immediately. John Weaver’s grotesque and inappropriate behavior, coupled with his longstanding deceptions concerning that behavior, are sickening. It is clear at this point that my views about how the Lincoln Project’s efforts are managed, and the best way to move the Lincoln Project forward into the future in the wake of these awful events, have diverged,” Horn wrote in a statement to the New York Times.
The Lincoln Project fired back at Horn, blaming this on her demands for an immediate ‘signing bonus’ payment of $250,000 and $40,000 per month in a consulting contract. She also requested a board seat on the Lincoln Project, a television show, a podcast hosting assignment, and a staff to help her with the endeavors. She said her goal was to establish ‘immediate and long-term financial security.’
Her demands were unanimously rejected by the management committee and board and she resigned from the Lincoln Project shortly after. Republican activist Matt Whitlock tweeted out a suggestion that she would’ve been fine with Weaver’s predatory behavior if they would’ve just paid her more.
When the allegations were made public, the Lincoln Project wrote that John Weaver had led a “secret life built on a foundation of deception” and that he is a predator, liar, an abuser, at every level. “We extend our deepest sympathies to those who were targeted by his deplorable and predatory behavior. We are disgusted and outraged that someone in a position of power and trust would use it for these means,” they wrote.
Weaver acknowledged in a statement that he had viewed the inappropriate messages as “consensual, mutual conversations at the time.” Members of the Lincoln Project absolutely knew about his predatory behavior and to think a group as media-hungry as them could keep quiet about it from reporters is unheard. Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson even said the only people who knew about Weaver’s contacts were “gay twitter” and media people in NYC and Washington DC.
The group of accountability will deny all culpability but insist that everyone knew. That is pure manipulation.
