MSNBC Interviewed Lincoln Project Leaders Multiple Times Without Asking About John Weaver Allegations

MSNBC interviewed leaders of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project more than a dozen times after allegations against co-founder John Weaver were made public — but failed to ask about those allegations even once.

Co-founders Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson, and George Conway appeared on the network to conduct interviews 17 times after the allegations were first made public on Jan. 11 by journalist Ryan Girdusky, according to records collected by media clipping services including TV Eyes and Grabien. The tally was first noted by The Daily Caller’s Michael Ginsberg.

At least 21 young men have accused the 61-year-old Weaver of sending them sexually provocative messages online, in some cases when they were as young as 14. Fox News host Laura Ingraham became the first television personality to provide a platform for the allegations on Jan. 13, when she interviewed Girdusky. The Lincoln Project removed a page listing its co-founders, including Weaver, the same week, and announced on Jan. 16 that he was leaving leaving the group.

“The truth is that I am gay,” Weaver said in a statement at the time. “And I have a wife and two kids whom I love. My inability to reconcile those two truths has led to this agonizing place.”

The New York Times published a rehash of the allegations against Weaver on Jan. 31, leading MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski to ask Conway — one of the group’s founders — about the issue the next day, prompting Conway to deny that he knew much about Weaver’s behavior.

“It’s terrible and awful and appalling and unfathomable,” Conway replied. I didn’t know John very well. I frankly only spoke to him a couple of times on the phone early on in the Lincoln Project. It’s almost, I don’t even know what to say. It’s just terrible. It leaves me speechless, frankly.”