John Weaver, a longtime Republican strategist and co-founder of the prominent anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project, has for years sent unsolicited and sexually provocative messages online to young men, often while suggesting he could help them get work in politics, according to interviews with 21 men who received them.
His solicitations included sending messages to a 14-year-old, asking questions about his body while he was still in high school and then more pointed ones after he turned 18.
Steve Schmidt, a co-founder of the group, said its leaders had learned last summer from social media posts that Mr. Weaver, who has a wife and two children, might be involved in relationships with men, but emphasized, "There was no awareness or insinuations of any type of inappropriate behavior when we became aware of the chatter at the time". Mr. Weaver denied the claims, Mr. Schmidt said in an interview.
In mid-January, after the allegations gained public attention, Mr. Weaver issued a statement acknowledging he had sent "inappropriate" messages and apologizing "to the men I made uncomfortable", while saying he had believed all of his interactions to be consensual. He said he would not return to the Lincoln Project from a medical leave that began in the summer.
