Laura Ingraham on Lincoln Project, John Weaver allegations
‘Ingraham Angle’ host slams the organization’s co-founder, who is accused of online harassment.
Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson was mocked on Tuesday night after addressing the online sexual harassment allegations against his former colleague John Weaver, with many critics accusing the anti-Trump pundit of ‘gaslighting."
Weaver, a co-founder of the Lincoln Project, acknowledged three weeks ago in a statement to the web site Axios that he had sent "inappropriate" messages he "viewed as consensual, mutual conversations at the time."
The Lincoln Project was previously mum after Weaver admitted guilt last month. A spokesperson for the anti-Trump group simply told Axios at the time, "John's statement speaks for itself."
On Sunday, The New York Times ran a bombshell report about 21 young men who accused Weaver, a co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, of misconduct, including who said he was 14 years old at the time.
As a result, the Lincoln Project finally denounced Weaver with a scathing statement and fellow co-founder George Conway was quickly dispatched to MSNBC to declare he "didn't know John very well" despite being business partners.
Wilson finally spoke out on Tuesday and said this was the first he learned about allegations that Weaver contacted "a child," and began his LPTV show "The Breakdown," by telling his audience that "it shocked us, it disgusted us, it left us in a state of absolute- just dread over the fact that a child had been victimized by John Weaver."
Journalist Ryan James Girdusky, who first mentioned allegations against Weaver with a cryptic tweet last month, thought Wilson’s choice of words was odd.
The Lincoln Project on the podcast today said they only became outraged at the John Weaver allegations when the New York Times reported that he approached a 14-year old boy," Girdusky wrote. "Apparently offering jobs for sex to a 19-year old is totally fine."
The allegations against Weaver have exposed the group to tough criticism and questions about when who knew what.
Wilson devoted some time to the issue during his program and it is particularly disheartening that Weaver "was trying to manipulate people, using the positions he had in presidential campaigns and in The Lincoln Project. It's unacceptable in every dimension. Every one of us rejects it utterly."
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Wilson insisted that the Lincoln Project terminated its relationship with Weaver "immediately" after an Axios report weeks earlier.
"I don't say this as a co-founder of The Lincoln Project, I say this as a dad," Wilson said. "It makes me furious... John's behavior with these kids left a string of people who he victimized in varying degrees and capacities and so many of them were intimidated into silence because he was a powerful man."
"We're an organization that believes in accountability," Wilson continued. "We are going to hold ourselves accountable for letting someone like this slip past the gates and it will never happen again."
Pundit Stephen L. Miller called Wilson’s comments "a fundraising pitch" and "nothing more."
Wilson then singled out Lincoln Project's critics like Donald Trump Jr. for being "gleeful" and "loving the gift that John Weaver gave them."
"They're dying for us to in some way defend John Weaver or to tell you we knew in some way, but I will never, ever be able to replicate the pain we felt learning this on Sunday when that article hit. It was intense. We didn't feel it just as guys in a political organization. We felt it as dads and fathers," Wilson continued.
Wilson closed his remarks by encouraging Weaver's victims to speak out whether it's to the media or The Lincoln Project directly.
"We hope you'll do so. We'll be there for you and with you... If you want to keep this quiet and just yell at me or yell at Steve [Schmidt] or yell at Reed [Galen] or yell at Stuart [Stevens] or yell at any of us and say 'How did you not know,' I'll talk to you til the phone's dead," Wilson vowed. "We'll keep it quiet if you want it quiet, we'll put it out if you want to put it out. We believe in transparency, we believe in honesty, we believe in directness. We're gonna give you that at every turn."
Many critics took to Twitter with thoughts on Wilson's comments, with many accusing him of gaslighting and some condemning the Lincoln Project altogether:
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The Lincoln Project did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Axios previously reported that Weaver took a "medical leave of absence" from The Lincoln Project last summer.
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