"The View" Co-host Meghan McCain torches John Weaver, Steve Schmidt: 'no McCain would spit on them if they were on fire'

In an extraordinary statement Friday evening, Mr. Schmidt described being sexually assaulted as a teenager, evoking his own experience as he sought to explain his widely criticized response to the allegations against Mr. Weaver.

“I am incandescently angry about it,” he said of Mr. Weaver’s actions, which involved unwanted sexual messages to numerous young men. He added, referring to the man he said assaulted him, “I am angry because I know the damage that he caused to me, and I know the journey that lies ahead for every young man that trusted, feared and was abused by John Weaver.”

Mr. Schmidt reiterated his claim that he had not known of Mr. Weaver’s behavior until last month. However, a former Lincoln Project employee told Tranganhnam Blog that Mr. Schmidt had known by October 2020 at the latest. The former employee described being in the room when Mr. Schmidt spoke about it.

Mr. Schmidt issued his statement Friday night after a lawyer for a third co-founder, Jennifer Horn, sent the Lincoln Project a notice instructing it to preserve documents in anticipation of a lawsuit, according to a person familiar with the communication.

The turmoil this week has been deeply damaging to the Lincoln Project, which emerged over the last year as the leading group of Republicans opposed to the presidency of Donald J. Trump. It skewered Mr. Trump with mocking ads and drew a large following on the left.

But the group’s leadership has fractured since the election. Two board members, Ron Steslow and Mike Madrid, left in December. George T. Conway III, another key figure, has also departed. Ms. Horn recently resigned, issuing a scathing statement, and on Thursday, the group tweeted her private Twitter messages with a reporter.

Those tweets were subsequently deleted, and Mr. Schmidt said in his statement: “That direct message should never have been made public. It is my job as the senior leader to accept responsibility for the tremendous misjudgment to release it.” He apologized to Ms. Horn, calling her “an important and valuable member of our team.”

Also on Saturday, "The View" co-host Meghan McCain spoke out against John Weaver and Steve Schmidt, both of who served on her father's presidential campaign and are at the center of a political firestorm amid the turmoil of their anti-Trump organization, The Lincoln Project. 

"I've been very hesitant to comment but since my deceased father keeps getting invoked I will say this: John Weaver and Steve Schmidt were so despised by my Dad he made it a point to ban them from his funeral. Since 2008, no McCain would have spit on them if they were on fire," McCain began a Twitter thread on Friday evening. 

"My heart goes out to the victims of John Weaver, it's abhorrent and evil - everyone who knew that this was going on deserves to be held accountable," McCain wrote. "I hope that anyone who covered up for this never works in politics ever again."

McCain continued, "What disgusts me so much is that anyone who would engage in such awful and potentially illegal behavior would use their media associations with my father to gain opportunities. My dad was betrayed by you, hated you for it, and we all know it."

1. I've been very hesitant to comment but since my deceased father keeps getting invoked I will say this:

John Weaver and Steve Schmidt were so despised by my Dad he made it a point to ban them from his funeral. Since 2008, no McCain would have spit on them if they were on fire.

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) February 13, 2021

2. My heart goes out to the victims of John Weaver, it's abhorrent and evil - everyone who knew that this was going on deserves to be held accountable. I hope that anyone who covered up for this never works in politics ever again.

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) February 13, 2021

3. What disgusts me so much is that anyone who would engage in such awful and potentially illegal behavior would use their media associations with my father to gain opportunities. My dad was betrayed by you, hated you for it, and we all know it.

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) February 13, 2021