Lincoln Project Co-Founder Backs Shutting Group Amid Sexual Harassment Claims

Lincoln Project Co-Founder Backs Shutting Group Amid Sexual Harassment Claims
George Conway, husband of White House Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, attends the 139th Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on April 17, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Isabel van Brugen
2/17/2021
Updated:
2/17/2021

George Conway, one of the co-founders of the Lincoln Project, on Feb. 16 called for the anti-Trump group to be shut down amid sexual harassment allegations against another co-founder, John Weaver.

Conway, who resigned in August 2020, made the comment in agreement with remarks by Kurt Bardella, a former senior adviser for the project.

“Just shut it down already ... it’s over,” Bardella wrote on Twitter, in response to a media report that several Lincoln Project founders were aware of the Weaver allegations as early as March 2020.

“It’s a shame, and we shouldn’t forget the hard work of so many people and the positive things the organization did, but yes, I think this is right,” Conway responded on the social media platform.

At least 21 men have claimed that they were sexually harassed by Weaver through text messages. Some of the messages implied that if the individuals reciprocated his advances, their careers could be boosted. One individual alleged he was just 14 years old when he began receiving messages from Weaver.

Weaver in a statement in January admitted to sending “inappropriate” messages and apologized “to the men I made uncomfortable.”

The Lincoln Project is a political action committee run by current and former Republicans. The project endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president and worked to prevent the reelection of former President Donald Trump.

During the 2019-20 election cycle, the group raised more than $87 million and spent more than $81 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The Lincoln Project put out aggressive, blunt ads to capture the attention of Democrat strategists, some of whom said the group’s Republicans were battling harder against Trump than some Democrats.

Hours earlier, Conway, the husband of former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, called on the group to “come clean,” saying that a probe into the Lincoln Project must be “thorough” and “not a whitewash.”

“THE LYING HAS TO STOP,” Conway wrote on Twitter. “It’s clear now that, as early last *MARCH*, the people who were in operational control of the Lincoln Project were told of Weaver’s predations. Enough is enough. LP needs to waive the NDAs and come clean.”

Six former employees of the group are seeking to be freed from their non-disclosure agreements so that they will be able to talk openly about the allegations against Weaver.

In a statement last week, the six individuals said that they wish to speak out about “harassment perpetuated by John Weaver that we have experienced or witnessed,” knowledge of “harassment of others by John Weaver,” and any other information “specific to the John Weaver situation that would aid the press, public, and our donors in questions relevant to the public interest, and to the interests of the Lincoln Project’s many loyal fans and small donors.”

“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,” the statement said.

The Lincoln Project didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times.