FBI launches investigation into claims Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver, 61, sexually harassed young men - as former staffers demand to be released from NDAs so they can speak publicly about the allegations
The FBI is reportedly investigating allegations Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver sexually harassed young men and interns - as six former staffers are demanding to be released from non-disclosure agreements they signed so they can publicly talk about the claims.
The Lincoln Project announced plans late on Thursday to launch an external investigation to probe claims they knew about sexual misconduct allegations against Weaver before he left the anti-Trump organization.
The 61-year-old co-founder left last month after it was publicly alleged he offered young men professional support in exchange for sex.
Federal agents have now reached out to at least two people to ask if Weaver sexually harassed them when they were underage, reporter Yashar Ali revealed on Friday.
Those two people said the FBI asked them if Weaver had ever touched them when they were minors, or if he had asked or sent them sexually explicit content.
It is not yet clear if Weaver is the target of a federal investigation or how wide the scope of the probe is.
The FBI is reportedly investigating allegations Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver, 61, sexually harassed young men and interns
Meanwhile, six unnamed former staffers are demanding they be released from NDAs they signed so they can talk about Weaver and disclose information 'relevant to the public interest', according to the New York Times.
The organization had said in a statement on Thursday night that anyone bound by a nondisclosure should contact the Lincoln Project 'for a release'.
The six staffers, however, said in an open letter they weren't comfortable doing so.
'Expecting victims and those close to victims to contact and engage the people and organization accused of protecting the very predator at issue is absurd, unreasonable and insensitive,' they said.
The Lincoln Project's announcement that they were bringing in an internal investigator came just hours after The Associated Press reported that members of the organization's leadership were informed in writing and in subsequent phone calls of at least 10 specific allegations of sexual harassment against Weaver.
It raised questions about the organization's statement last month that it was 'shocked' when the accusations surfaced publicly this year.
It came on the same day the New York magazine published explosive interviews with two of Weaver's alleged victims, both of whom are young college students, who say the political advisor sent them graphic messages.
Alex Johnson, a senior at the University of Texas Austin, claimed Weaver sent him a message last April asking whether he was interested in interning at the Lincoln Project.
'Would like to put you in touch with some of our folks,' Weaver allegedly messaged.
He later added: 'On [your] walk, think about worshipping a big c**k and having yours worshipped and you r****d till you beg!'
The Lincoln Project announced plans late on Thursday to launch an external investigation to probe claims they knew about sexual misconduct allegations against Weaver (above in 2016) before he left the anti-Trump organization
The organization released a statement on Thursday night announcing that its board has decided to retain 'a best-in-class outside professional' to review Weaver's tenure 'to establish both accountability and best practices going forward for The Lincoln Project'
Weaver also allegedly called Johnson and it would 'quickly segue into what felt like an attempt at phone sex.'
'We were talking about the Lincoln Project, and maybe getting me involved... and then he asked me: 'When's the last time you j**ked off?''
Johnson said he accepted the internship because of the organization's prestige but claimed the sexual harassment continued.
'Are you top, bottom, versa?' Weaver allegedly wrote in one message shortly after Johnson started.
Johnson claimed: 'His messages never stopped. And I would play along, just to be nice. Because I knew, I mean, he's important. Like he has the strings. And we operate in the same kind of political culture of being 'Never Trumpers'.
Another young man, 19-year-old Louisiana State University student Charlie Stephens, says he was contacted by Weaver last June about interning at The Lincoln Project.
'You are a f**king stud!' Weaver allegedly wrote to Stephens.
Stephens replied that it was 'quite the compliment,' before Weaver reportedly responded: 'Take it! Hell, you may very well be ;).'
Weaver - who has been married to his wife since 2007 - admitted last month that he was gay and apologized to the men he made 'uncomfortable' with his messages.
'The truth is that I'm gay and that I have a wife and two kids who I love. My inability to reconcile those two truths has led to this agonizing place,' he said in an interview with Axios.
'To the men I made uncomfortable through my messages that I viewed as consensual mutual conversations at the time: I am truly sorry.
'They were inappropriate and it was because of my failings that this discomfort was brought on you.'
The Lincoln Project launched in November 2019 as a super PAC that allowed its leaders to raise and spend unlimited sums of money. Since its creation, the Lincoln Project has raised $90 million
Co-founder George Conway denied having any knowledge of Weaver's alleged sexual harassment
The revelations of the outside probe threatens the stature of not just the Lincoln Project but also the broader coalition of establishment-oriented Republican groups working to excise Trump from the party.
Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt insisted on Wednesday night that he and the rest of the group's leadership were not aware of any internal allegations of wrongdoing involving Weaver.
The Associated Press, however, reported that members of the organization's leadership were allegedly informed in writing and in subsequent phone calls in June 2020 of at least 10 specific allegations of harassment against Weaver.
It included two Lincoln Project employees.
In the wake of those claims, the organization released a statement on Thursday night announcing that its board has decided to retain 'a best-in-class outside professional' to review Weaver's tenure 'to establish both accountability and best practices going forward for The Lincoln Project.'
There is no evidence that the Lincoln Project buried the allegations against Weaver for business reasons.
But taken together, the harassment allegations and new revelations about spending practices raise significant questions about the management of one of the highest-profile antagonists of Trump.
Schmidt has insisted that he and the rest of the group's leadership were not aware of any internal allegations of wrongdoing involving Weaver.
'No Lincoln Project employee, intern, or contractors ever made an allegation of inappropriate communication about John Weaver that would have triggered an investigation by HR or by an outside employment counsel,' Schmidt said. 'In other words, no human being ever made an allegation about any inappropriate sexualized communications about John Weaver ever.'
The Lincoln Project launched in November 2019 as a super PAC that allowed its leaders to raise and spend unlimited sums of money.
Since its creation, the Lincoln Project has raised $90 million - more than $50 million of which has gone to firms controlled by the group's leaders.
Its founders represent a who's who of prominent Republican strategists on cable television, including Schmidt and Reed Galen, both former advisers to John McCain; conservative attorney George Conway; former New Hampshire GOP chair Jennifer Horn; Florida-based veteran political ad maker Rick Wilson; and Weaver, who has long advised former Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Backed by its founders' commanding social media presence, the organization quickly attracted a massive following of Trump critics in both parties that exceeded even its own founders' expectations.
No comments