Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt is resigning from the group’s board amid a series of scandals that have shaken the very expensive anti-Trump super PAC, Axios discovered.
Why it matters: Schmidt, a veteran Republican operative, is the last and most prominent departure from the group, which is recovering from revelations that another co-founder, John Weaver, used professional promotion offers in a series of attempts to solicit sex from young men.
Background: Schmidt’s resignation comes amid a wave of stories detrimental to the Lincoln Project.
- The New York Times reported last month on allegations by 21 men that Weaver sent them unsolicited and sexually charged messages. One of them was 14 at the time, according to the report.
- Several people have allegedly been contacted by federal authorities regarding the alleged conduct. The Lincoln Project said it hired an outside law firm to conduct an investigation into the matter.
- AP reported that most of the $ 90 million that Project Lincoln raised was paid to consulting firms linked to the group’s founders and senior employees.
- On Thursday, the group’s official Twitter account tweeted screenshots of messages between a former senior employee and a reporter writing a story about the group. Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway suggested the disclosures may have been illegal.
This series of controversies led to a series of layoffs by the group this week.
- Lincoln Project spokesman Kurt Bardella confirmed to Axios that he too resigned from the group on Friday.
- Nayyera Haq, who signed on to present a series of videos for the group this week, also resigned on Friday.
- Columnist Tom Nichols said on Friday, he was “stepping down as an unpaid adviser.”