MSNBC Needs to Part Ways With the Lincoln Project

Of all the endless, breathless, shamelessly adulating media coverage lavished on the now-shamed and imploding Lincoln Project, none was so thoroughly involved as that of MSNBC.

More than mere reporting or even repetition, MSNBC made the group’s principals into regular guests and paid contributors.

MSNBC can never erase the fact that it was strategically instrumental to the disgraced political action committee’s fortune that siphoned nearly $90 million from credulous anti-Trump voters during the 2020 presidential election.

But the liberal network still has a chance to sever ties with the group, and anyone associated with it, before things get worse. And make no mistake: Things almost certainly will get worse.

Current and former Lincoln Project members reportedly knew as early as March 2020 that one of the organization’s co-founders, John Weaver, had allegedly sexually harassed several young men, offering them the promise of professional advancement in return for sexual favors. The list of Weaver’s alleged victims, which numbers at around 21, reportedly includes a 14-year-old boy.

“Multiple individuals began coming forward late Monday to discuss the allegations related to Weaver,” the 19th reports, “and the timeline on which other senior management knew about them, after the group confirmed that a nondisclosure release applied to its current and former contractors, vendors and employees.”

The accounts provided by said individuals directly contradict the timeline offered last week by now-former Lincoln Project board member and MSNBC political analyst Steve Schmidt, who claims he knew nothing of Weaver’s alleged predations until January of this year.

The individuals cited in the 19th report also say the “co-founders knew months earlier than June” about Weaver, who himself admits that some of his communications were “inappropriate.”

“Some of the individuals came forward with new details on Monday after they were released from their nondisclosure agreements,” the 19th reports. “Several said Sarah Lenti, a managing partner with the group who was previously its executive director, knew about the allegations against Weaver as early as May 2020. Lenti confirmed that some of the group’s co-founders knew about the allegations as early as March 2020. Schmidt and [Reed Galen] were among those who knew, multiple sources said.”

These allegations are just the latest in a long string of disasters for an organization that bills itself as a principled, fiercely competent political machine.

Schmidt’s statement last week announcing his resignation from the board – he is staying on in a management capacity – comes after the abrupt and dramatic exit of fellow co-founder Jennifer Horn.

Of the Lincoln Project’s eight co-founders, only three remain: Schmidt, Galen, and Rick Wilson.

The FBI, meanwhile, is investigating allegations that Weaver sexually harassed minors, according to journalist Yashar Ali.

This is on top of the fact that the Lincoln Project announced this week that it has hired the law firm Paul Hastings to conduct a “comprehensive review of our operations and culture,” which comes after allegations that the PAC fostered a “toxic” work environment, one where words such as “cocksuckers” and “faggots” were used with abandon by the group’s leading members.

Israeli politician Gideon Sa’ar, meanwhile, has suspended ties with Lincoln Project advisers following news of Weaver’s alleged misconduct. The PAC’s fundraising page has also gone dark, inactive on its website since at least Saturday.

Lastly, there’s the rather uncomfortable fact that Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway and former senior advisor Kurt Bardella on Tuesday said it’s time to close shop.

In short, it’s a complete mess.

But if you think this is bad, imagine how mortifying it must be for MSNBC, which enthusiastically promoted and hosted the Lincoln Project all throughout the 2020 election cycle, even despite the obvious red flags.

And red flags there were. It was obvious to conservative commentator Andrew Ferguson, who said of the group in June 2020, “Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the Lincoln Project isn’t quite what it told us it wanted to be, given how many politicos fly under false colors in the Trump era.” The red flags were also likely obvious to New York Times magazine’s Jason Zengerle, who wrote the definitive takedown in 2015 of Weaver’s noxious brand of cynical politics.

All of this is to say: One didn’t need a crystal ball to see that the Lincoln Project, an unruly gang of “swamp creatures,” as Ferguson so rightly put it, was bad news. It was obvious to anyone paying attention, which, apparently, does not include anyone at MSNBC.

Schmidt, for example, has been a staple of the network’s news and opinion programming, appearing on its airwaves practically non-stop since the Lincoln Project first launched. Wilson has likewise been a frequent presence on the network. Morning Joe has dedicated valuable airtime specifically to promoting the Lincoln Project’s viral political ads, which, by the way, ended up having little, if any, effect on voters in battleground states.

Relatedly, of the nearly $90 million that the Lincoln Project raked in during the 2020 election cycle, more than $50 million was paid to firms owned by — Lincoln Project members.

Lastly, for good measure, we can’t forget the role that MSNBC’s Brian Williams played in legitimizing the PAC, including hosting the group’s members while also dedicating airtime to airing their ads.

Between early December and Jan. 26, individuals associated with the Lincoln Project, including Schmidt, Wilson, former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, longtime GOP consultant Stuart Stevens, and U.S. Naval War College professor Tom Nichols, appeared in at least 13 episodes of Williams’s program. In each appearance, the MSNBC anchor made it a point to underscore their affiliation with the now-disgraced organization.

Williams even took the time in December to mark the Lincoln Project’s one-year anniversary, commemorating the moment with the type of solemnness usually reserved for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Lincoln Project, which launched in December 2019 with the promise of defeating former President Donald Trump, has, for all intents and purposes, been defeated – and by its own hand.

As for those who midwived this monster, which includes MSNBC’s top talent, the best they can do now is: Get out while there is still a chance. Cut ties, wash your hands, and then take a good hard look in the mirror and think about the choices that have led you to this moment.

Becket Adams is a senior commentary writer at the Washington Examiner. His work can be read here.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.