Disgraced sexual predator and Lincoln Project founder John Weaver is shoring up his precarious financial situation using the fortune he (presumably) amassed from the controversial super PAC during the 2020 election cycle.
Government records show that Weaver paid off a $1.36 million mortgage in April of this year, two months after the New York Times published a damning report on the super PAC founder's long history of sexual predation and grooming behavior involving college-age men and boys as young as 14. The mortgage, initiated in December 2017 for what appears to be a riverfront lot near Austin, Texas, was not due to be paid off until January 2048.
Weaver, who was not paid by the Lincoln Project in a manner that would require public disclosure in accordance with campaign finance law, has now settled at least $1.67 million of outstanding debts since joining the Lincoln Project in 2019. As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, the disgraced pervert was released from a $313,656 federal tax lien in October 2020.
Another founding member, Rick Wilson, has similarly used his undisclosed windfall from the Lincoln Project to shore up his shoddy finances. In February, just days after the Times published its story on Weaver's predatory behavior, Wilson paid off a $200,000 mortgage more than 16 years ahead of schedule. In April, he finally settled an overdue tax bill in the amount of $389,420.
The Lincoln Project has been widely criticized for its shady bookkeeping, which has allowed its founding members to avoid disclosing how much they earned. The super PAC was extraordinarily successful financially during the 2020 cycle, raising nearly $100 million from liberal billionaires and #Resistance wine moms.
In terms of achieving its goal of defeating elected Republicans, the super PAC was not very successful. But that never seemed to be the Lincoln Project's primary focus. As founder Steve Schmidt reportedly boasted, the liberal fundraising behemoth was his ticket to "generational wealth."
Reporting indicates the Lincoln Project's senior members were compensated through a third-party contractor so as to avoid disclosure requirements. The firm's four original founders—Weaver, Schmidt, Wilson, and Reed Galen—were paid through Galen's consulting firm, Summit Strategic Communication, to which the super PAC has doled out more than $27 million as of February 2021.
The Lincoln Project's shady financial arrangements, as well as its handling of the Weaver scandal, prompted a number of calls for its dissolution. The super PAC "should shut down, absent full disclosure of its finances," George Conway, an uncompensated founding member, tweeted in March. "[T]here's simply too much money that hasn't been accounted for, and, I fear, never will be."
The Lincoln Project's original founders have thus far prevailed in keeping their profitable enterprise afloat. In addition to transforming itself into a media outlet for woke libs, the Lincoln Project hired a law firm run by Lincoln Project donors to review its handling of the Weaver scandal. Not surprisingly, the Lincoln Project announced it had been fully exonerated by the impartial investigators.