Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The New York Times reports:
The crisis engulfing the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project deepened on Friday when Steve Schmidt, a co-founder, resigned abruptly from the board and former employees renewed demands to be released from nondisclosure agreements in order to provide more information about the organization’s handling of harassment allegations against another co-founder, John Weaver.
He stepped down from the board to quell a growing furor around the Lincoln Project, but had only joined the board after the November election. In an extraordinary statement Friday evening, Mr. Schmidt described being sexually assaulted as a teenager, evoking his own experience as he sought to explain his widely criticized response to the allegations against Mr. Weaver.
Yashar Ali reports:
The FBI is investigating allegations against longtime GOP political consultant and Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver, according to two sources who said they were contacted by FBI agents. Those sources told me the agents inquired whether Weaver ever touched them inappropriately or sent or requested sexually explicit material when they were underage. The FBI asking potential witnesses about allegations of illegal conduct does not necessarily mean that someone is the subject or a target of a federal investigation.
It’s also unclear what the scope of the FBI’s inquiry is; the sources who spoke to me said the questions they were asked were narrow in scope. Weaver has been accused by dozens of men of behaving inappropriately toward them. So far, the stories that have been shared publicly focus on men who accuse Weaver of online harassment and promising employment opportunities in exchange for sex.
The Associated Press reports:
Schmidt’s statement came less than an hour after an attorney for former Lincoln Project official Jennifer Horn sent a note to the Lincoln Project counsel informing them that they should preserve documents and communications in anticipation of litigation.
In his statement, Schmidt acknowledged playing a role in the public release of a series of private messages between Horn and a reporter the night before.
“I am not the daily manager of the Lincoln Project, but I am the senior leader. As the senior leader, it is my responsibility to set an example and to assume accountability,” he wrote. “I would like to apologize to Jennifer Horn,” he continued. “She deserved better from me. She deserved a leader who could restrain his anger.”
Bill Maher grills The Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt: “Where did the other money go?” https://t.co/Te0O7jETOM
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 13, 2021