Last month, married Lincoln Project co-founder and Republican operative John Weaver admitted to inappropriate sexting with men. The Lincoln Project has now released a statement denouncing Weaver after 21 men accused Weaver of inappropriate online harassment in a story published by the New York Times on Sunday.
The NYT reports: “These messages from Mr. Weaver, 61, who helped run John McCain's presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2008 and John Kasich's in 2016, did not lead to physical encounters except in one consensual case, and none of the men accused Mr. Weaver of unlawful conduct. Rather, many of them described feeling preyed upon by an influential older man in the field in which they wanted to work, and believing they had to engage with his repeated messaging or lose a professional opportunity. … Interviews with the 21 young men, as well as a review of screenshots of dozens of messages he sent them over the last five years, show that his online behavior was in many cases aggressive and unwanted.”
Wrote the Lincoln Project: “John Weaver led a secret life that was built on a foundation of deception at every level. He is a predator, a liar, and an abuser. 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. The totality of his deceptions are beyond anything any of us could have imagined and we are absolutely shocked and sickened by it.”
Said Weaver in a statement released last month: “For too long I have tried to live a life that wasn't completely true, where I cleaved off an important part of myself in order to maintain what I thought was happiness and normalcy in the other part. I was lying to myself, to my family who gave me nothing but unconditional love, and to others, causing a great deal of pain to all.”
“The truth is that I'm gay,” Weaver added. “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.”
“To the men I made uncomfortable through my messages that I viewed as consensual mutual conversations at the time: I am truly sorry,” Weaver continued. “They were inappropriate and it was because of my failings that this discomfort was brought on you.”
